President Donald Trump on Thursday again proposed the idea of the US taking over Gaza, offering the idea of a “freedom zone” as he continued to muse about redeveloping the war-torn enclave.
Trump’s efforts to end the Israel-Hamas conflict have so far proven elusive, and the former real estate developer has previously floated the idea of the US taking control and developing Gaza.
He continued, “They’ve never solved the Gaza problem and if you look at it, I have aerial shots, I mean there’s practically no building standing, there’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable, it’s tremendous death. And I want to see that be a freedom zone.”
On the ground: Almost 70 people were killed overnight in Gaza as a week of intense Israeli strikes continues.
Israeli strikes killed 57 people in Khan Younis, according to a list from the Nasser Hospital mortuary. Videos supplied by local journalists show young children among those killed and bodies filling the mortuary at the hospital, with staff saying it was “packed with bodies.”
CNN’s Kareem Khadder contributed to this report.
