Israel hits Gaza Strip, Trump touts 'freedom zone' plan

Israeli military strikes have killed at least 85 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say, as the United States and Arab mediators pushed for a ceasefire deal and US President Donald Trump said the territory could be a "freedom zone".

Most of the victims, including women and children, were killed in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip's south in air strikes that hit homes and tents, they said.

The dead included local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for the Hamas-run al-Aqsa radio station and was killed along with 11 family members when their home was struck, the medics said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has intensified its offensive in the Gaza Strip as it tries to eradicate Hamas in retaliation for the deadly attacks the Palestinian militant group carried out on Israel in 2023.

In Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on al-Tawba medical clinic killed at least 15 people and wounded several others.

It took Thursday's death toll to 85, medics said.

Hamas said in a statement that Israel was making a "desperate attempt to negotiate under cover of fire" as indirect ceasefire talks take place between Israel and Hamas, involving Trump envoys and Qatar and Egyptian mediators in Doha.

Israel carried out the latest strikes on the day Palestinians commemorate the "Nakba" or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced to flee their hometowns and villages during the 1948 Middle East war that gave birth to the state of Israel.

Trump on Thursday reiterated his desire to take over the Gaza Strip, telling a business roundtable in Qatar that the United States would "make it a freedom zone".

Trump first pitched his idea in February, suggesting the US would redevelop it and relocate Palestinians.

The plan drew global condemnation, with Palestinians, Arab countries and the United Nations saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Most of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million population is internally displaced as Israel presses a military assault that has killed nearly 53,000 Palestinians and ravaged much of the enclave, according to Hamas authorities.

Israel began its assault after the October 2023 Hamas attack.

Speaking to a group of officials and business leaders in Qatar, which has hosted Hamas' political office in Doha for years, Trump said he has "concepts for Gaza that I think are very good: make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved".

Trump said he had seen "aerial shots where, I mean, there's practically no building standing. It's not like you're trying to save something. There's no buildings. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable."

"I want to see that (Gaza Strip) be a freedom zone. And if it's necessary, I think I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone. Let some good things happen."

Trump has previously said he wants to turn the Gaza Strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

Many Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving the Gaza Strip, comparing such ideas to the 1948 "Nakba" when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes.

Some say they would rather live in the ruins of their homes.

Commenting on Trump's remarks in Qatar, Hamas official Basem Naim said the president "possesses the necessary influence" to end the Gaza Strip war and help establish a Palestinian state.

But Naim added: "Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land - it is not real estate for sale on the open market."

Israel invaded the enclave in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, in which about 1200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli tallies.

Earlier this month, Israel approved expanded offensive plans against Hamas that might include seizing the strip and controlling aid.