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'People are starving': Trump promises to 'take care' of Gaza crisis during Gulf tour
A global hunger monitor said that the entire population of Gaza faces a critical risk of famine, with half a million of them facing starvation
- PUBLISHED: Fri 16 May 2025, 2:06 PM UPDATED: Fri 16 May 2025, 2:33 PM
- By:
- AFP
US President Donald Trump said Friday "a lot of people are starving" in the besieged Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported more than 50 deaths in Israeli air strikes since midnight.
Trump's brief comments on Gaza came as he capped the first foreign tour of his second term that saw him visit several Gulf countries but excluded key ally Israel.
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The entire population of Gaza faces a critical risk of famine, with half a million of them facing starvation, a global hunger monitor said earlier this month, calling this a major deterioration since its last report in October.
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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.
On Friday, Gaza's civil defence agency said that 56 people had been killed in Israeli strikes since midnight, with medics reporting dozens more injured. When asked by AFP, the Israeli army made no comment on the strikes.
"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 militant group Hamas, which is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages it seized in October 2023.
Hamas insisted on Thursday 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".
The health ministry in Gaza said 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,010.
Israeli media reported that the military had stepped up its offensive in Gaza, following government approval of a plan to retake the territory earlier this month.
New lows
For weeks, UN agencies have warned that supplies of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines are reaching new lows.
The World Health Organization said the last hospital in Gaza providing cancer and cardiac care had stopped functioning after an Israeli attack on Tuesday left it "severely damaged and inaccessible".
UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of "killing what's left of Humanity".
Israel says its aid stoppage and military pressure are meant to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages.
But senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the entry of aid into Gaza was "the minimum requirement for a conducive and constructive negotiation environment".
"Access to food, water, and medicine is a fundamental human right -- not a subject for negotiation," he added.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.
But the UN on Thursday ruled out involvement with the initiative.