Trump Says People in Gaza Are Starving and Vows to Get Situation 'Taken Care Of'

Donald Trump has said people are starving in Gaza and the US would have the situation in the territory "taken care of" as it suffered a further wave of intense Israeli airstrikes overnight.

- Jason Burke

On the final day of his Gulf tour, the US president told reporters in Abu Dhabi: "We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving."

Israeli officials have consistently denied that the tight blockade it imposed on Gaza more than 10 weeks ago has caused hunger. Trump's comments will be seen as further evidence of tensions between Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's closest ally.

There had been widespread hope that Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates could lead to a fresh pause in hostilities or a return of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Instead, the raids and bombardment over the past 72 hours have raised the levels of violence higher than for several weeks, taking the death toll close to that seen in the first days of Israel's renewed offensive after it broke the ceasefire in March.

Gaza's civil defence agency said yesterday's strikes killed at least 88. Some officials in the Palestinian territory put the number killed by Israeli attacks in recent days as high as 300.