Rescuers said Israeli strikes on Gaza killed nearly 90 people on Friday, while Hamas demanded the United States press Israel to lift a sweeping aid blockade in return for a US-Israeli hostage released by the group.
In early March, shortly before the collapse of a two-month ceasefire in its war against Hamas, Israel re-imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip, where aid agencies have warned of critical shortages of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines.
US president Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday that 鈥榓 lot of people are starving鈥� in the besieged Palestinian territory.
鈥榃e鈥檙e looking at Gaza. And we鈥檙e going to get that taken care of,鈥� Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi, on a regional tour that excluded key ally Israel.
Israel says its decision to cut off aid to Gaza was intended to force concessions from militant group Hamas, which still holds dozens of Israeli hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Hamas on Monday freed Edan Alexander, the last living hostage with US nationality, after direct engagement with the Trump administration that left Israel sidelined.
As part of the understanding with Washington regarding Alexander鈥檚 release, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu on Friday said the group was 鈥榓waiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure鈥� on Israel 鈥榯o open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid鈥�.
Nunu鈥檚 remarks come a day after Hamas had warned Trump that Gaza was not 鈥榝or sale鈥�, responding to the US president again suggesting he could take over the Palestinian territory and turn it into 鈥榓 freedom zone鈥�.
On the ground, Gaza鈥檚 civil defence agency said Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least 88 people.
Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, told AFP that she was awoken by a pre-dawn attack on northern Gaza. 鈥榃e were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us.鈥�
鈥楨veryone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses.鈥�
鈥楾here is no safety. We could die at any moment,鈥� said 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, also from northern Gaza.
At the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, AFPTV footage showed mourners crying over the bodies of their loved ones.
鈥楾hey were innocent people,鈥� said Mayar Salem. 鈥極nly their remains are left... They were my sisters and daughters.鈥�