(NewsNation) — Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg, a former pastor, told constituents this week the way to resolve the Israeli-Hamas war is to use nuclear weapons.

“It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,” Walberg told a March 25 town hall in Dundee, Michigan. He appeared to be responding to a question about U.S. aid to people in Gaza.

“We shouldn’t be spending a dime in humanitarian aid,” he said.

Video of Walberg’s comments first appeared in an X posting by a Democratic activist known as “DemCastMI.”

“Congressman Walberg’s comments are horrific and shocking,” said fellow Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee in a statement.

“It is an indefensible position to argue against humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza while calling for the wholesale massacre of the Palestinian people. I could not disagree more with these extreme and dangerous comments.”

Walberg spokesman Mike Rorke says the answer was in direct response to a question about American troops being deployed into Gaza to build a port to send aid to Palestinians.

“During his community gathering, he clearly uses a metaphor to support Israel’s swift elimination of Hamas, which is the best chance to save lives long-term and the only hope at achieving a permanent peace in the region,” Rorke told the Detroit News.

Walberg is in his eighth term representing Michigan’s 5^th District, which covers much of the area between Detroit and the Ohio border. His website says Walberg was a pastor prior to being elected to Congress.

Nuclear weapons have been used only twice against people: August 6 and 9, 1945 over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively.

The bombs killed more than 350,000 people, mostly civilians.

Japan surrendered two weeks later, ending World War II. In recent years, some historians have challenged the long-held contention that the bombings avoided an allied ground invasion of Japan.