Washington DC - Republican Congressman Tim Walberg has tried to walk back comments suggesting Gaza should be "like Hiroshima and Nagasaki," claiming his message was "distorted."

In a town hall last week, Walberg said the US "shouldn't be spending a dime on humanitarian aid."

The Michigan Republican added that Gaza "should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick," apparently referring to atomic bombs the US detonated over the Japanese cities in August 1945.

Walberg's comments have since gone viral on social media and sparked outrage from Americans opposed to the US-backed Israeli assault on Gaza.

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The congressman on Sunday issued a response denying that he wanted to provoke a nuclear attack on the besieged Palestinian territory.

"As a child who grew up in the Cold War era, the last thing I'd advocate for would be the use of nuclear weapons," Walberg wrote. "In a shortened clip, I used a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as swiftly as possible, without putting American troops in harms way."

"My reasoning was the exact opposite of what is being reported: The quicker these wars end, the fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire," he continued. "The sooner Hamas and Russia surrender, the easier it will be to move forward."

"The use of this metaphor, along with the removal of context, distorted my message, but I fully stand by our allies."

The US' 1945 nuclear bombings killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 74,000 people in Nagasaki, with many survivors suffering long-term health impacts.

Gaza is already facing an intense Israeli bombardment and ground invasion. Over 32,800 people have been reported killed since October.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation's blockade on humanitarian aid has driven millions of Palestinians to the brink of starvation and famine, with human rights experts sounding daily alarms of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Israel's brutal assault is backed by the US government, which continues to send arms to the country as it massacres the men, women, and children of Gaza.