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Israel launched a new and intense wave of airstrikes and artillery shelling on targets across Gaza on Thursday morning, killing at least 80 people, as faltering talks on a new ceasefire continued in Qatar and Donald Trump said he wanted to see the US “make” the devastated territory “into a freedom zone”.
Trump’s statement recalled the plan he put forward in February for the US to take control of Gaza to allow for its reconstruction as a luxury leisure and business hub. The scheme implied the possible permanent displacement of much or all of its population of 2.3 million and triggered global outrage.
In Qatar, on the third day of his Middle East tour, Trump said: “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good: make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone. I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.”
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, rejected the idea, saying: “Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land – it is not real estate for sale on the open market. We remain firmly committed to our land and our national cause, and we are prepared to make every sacrifice to preserve our homeland and secure our people’s future.”
There had been widespread hopes that Trump’s regional visit could lead to a new pause in hostilities or a renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where a tight Israeli blockade is now in its third month.
Instead, the raids and bombardment over the last 48 hours have raised levels of violence in Gaza higher than for several weeks, with the death toll coming close to that during the first days of Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza after a fragile ceasefire collapsed in March.
Some estimates put the number killed by Israeli attacks on Thursday at more than 100.
Witnesses in Khan Younis reported airstrikes on the city from early morning and saw many bodies being taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, and some body bags contained the remains of multiple people, they said. The hospital’s morgue said 54 people had been killed there.
Analysts said the omission of Israel from Trump’s itinerary was a significant blow to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and evidence of tension between the two leaders. The US president visited Saudi Arabia, then Qatar and arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Netanyahu, who leads the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with an expanded offensive in Gaza to achieve Israel’s stated war aims of “crushing” Hamas and freeing the 58 hostages it is holding.
Hamas seized 251 hostages in its October 2023 attack into Israel, during which its militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed at least 52,928 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
The numbers of casualties reported over the last 48 hours – about 160 – have not been confirmed independently. Israeli officials have said many of the recent strikes targeted senior Hamas commanders and accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a charge the militant Islamist organisation denies.
Pressure on Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza is mounting. Stocks of food and fuel are almost exhausted. Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation, while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel’s blockade “has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”. The global campaign group also criticised “plans to squeeze Gaza’s 2 million people into an even tinier area while making the rest of the land uninhabitable”.
Israel, which claims the blockade is necessary to stop Hamas looting and selling aid to fund its military and other operations, has put forward a plan to distribute humanitarian assistance from a series of hubs in Gaza run by private contractors and protected by Israeli troops.
Vetted representatives of families would be allowed to pick up monthly food packages from six hubs located in southern Gaza.
The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been established to manage the new scheme, announced on Wednesday that it would begin operating in Gaza by the end of the month and that it had asked Israel to lift its blockade.
Israel has not commented on the statement.
Aid officials in Gaza including from the UN have described the scheme as unworkable, inadequate, dangerous and potentially unlawful, and Gulf states that were approached for funding have reportedly refused to back the plan.
There was also violence in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said a manhunt was under way after a woman who was nine months pregnant and on her way to the delivery room was killed when a suspected Palestinian gunman opened fire on her car.
Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, praised the attack as “heroic” in a video statement but did not admit responsibility.
Palestinian officials said five Palestinians were killed in a raid by the Israeli army in the northern village of Tammun. Israeli military official said its operation had targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan terror attacks.
