Lots of people are starving in Gaza, warns Trump
- Last updated: May 17, 2025 | 17:01
US President Donald Trump said Friday that “a lot of people are starving” in the besieged Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported more than 90 people killed in Israeli air strikes since midnight.
Trump´s brief comments on Gaza came as he capped the first foreign tour of his second term, which saw him visit several Gulf countries but excluded key ally Israel.
A two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, shortly after Israel reimposed a total blockade on Gaza that aid agencies say has sparked critical food shortages.
“We´re looking at Gaza. And we´re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
Israel cut off aid to Gaza on March 2, a tactic it has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, which is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages it seized in October 2023.
Hamas insisted that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was “the minimum requirement” for talks.
It also warned that Gaza was not “for sale” hours after Trump again floated taking over the territory and turning it into “a freedom zone”.
On Friday, Gaza´s civil defence agency said that 74 people had been killed in Israeli strikes since midnight, reporting dozens more trapped under the rubble as shelling continued.
The strikes sparked panic in northern Gaza.
“We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us,” north Gaza resident Umm Mohammed Al Tatari, 57, told AFP.
"Everyone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses. We didn`t know who was dead and who was still alive." Another resident, 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, said the bombing continued through the night.
Agence France-Presse