Continuing his Middle East trip, US President Donald Trump said Thursday that October 7, 2023, was “one of the worst days in the history of the world, not only in this region.”
In comments at a meeting of business leaders in Doha, the US president said the Hamas-led assault on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, was “one of the worst, most atrocious attacks anyone has ever seen.”
More than 5,000 terrorists burst into the south of the country on that day, rampaging murderously through border communities and abducting 251 people to Gaza, where 57 hostages remain in captivity. Terrorists slaughtered families as they huddled in their homes and massacred hundreds of people at an outdoor music festival.
Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, topple its regime, and free the hostages.
Hamas, Trump said, is “going to have to be dealt with.”
The president then went on to talk about his vision for the future of Gaza, which has been largely devastated by the ongoing war.
“We’re working very hard in Gaza. Gaza has been a territory of death and destruction,” Trump said, but added that the US would get involved.
“I have aerial shots where, I mean, there’s practically no building standing. It’s not like you’re trying to save something. There’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable,” he said of the Palestinian territory.
He said he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”: “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he said. “I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.”
The president’s meaning was not immediately clear. Trump has in the past talked of the US taking over Gaza to make it into a Riviera.
“We’re working very hard in Gaza. Gaza has been a territory of death and destruction,” he added.
Little has come so far of the latest indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, led by Trump’s envoys and Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha.
Hamas says it is ready to free all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza in return for an end to the war, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers interim truces, saying the war can only end once Hamas is no longer in control of Gaza. Previous short ceasefires that saw batches of hostages released also had Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, including some convicted of murdering Israelis.
“At a time when mediators are exerting intensive efforts to put the negotiation back on the right track, the Zionist occupation responds to those efforts by military pressure on innocent civilians,” the Hamas terror group said in a statement Thursday.
“Netanyahu wants an open-ended war and he doesn’t care about the fate of his hostages,” it said.
Trump also said, “We are dealing with Hamas and Iran and the Houthis, and that was I think, very successful.”
He was referring to US strikes on the Iran-backed Yemeni group that has been launching missiles and drones at Israel and attacking shipping lanes in the Red Sea in support of Gaza. After two months of intensive US airstrikes, Washington earlier this month reached a ceasefire with the Houthis, who agreed to stop targeting American ships in the vital shipping route but have continued to fire missiles at Israel.
Israel’s air defense systems have stopped most of the Houthi attacks, but some missiles and drones have slipped through. Last week, a missile landed within the territory of Ben Gurion Airport, causing most foreign airlines to suspend flights to the country. Israel responded with strikes that destroyed significant Houthi infrastructure.
The Houthis say they will only stop if there is an end to the war in Gaza. Another round of mediated talks for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal began in Doha on Wednesday.
However, Qatar’s prime minister told CNN in an interview that Israel’s attacks in Gaza this week send a signal that it is not interested in negotiating a ceasefire.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said a US-backed humanitarian aid distribution plan for Gaza was unnecessary, stressing the United Nations should be allowed to deliver aid to the war-torn enclave.
A Palestinian official close to the talks said, “No breakthrough has been reached in the Doha talks so far because of Israel’s insistence on pursuing the war.”
Palestinian health officials say the Israeli attacks have escalated since Trump started a visit on Tuesday to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which many Palestinians had hoped he would use to push for a truce.
Airstrikes on Tuesday targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital where Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar was believed to be sheltering. The IDF has not yet confirmed whether Sinwar, the younger brother of former Hamas leader and October 7 terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar, was killed in the strike.
Hamas authorities claimed that strikes killed over 100 people on Thursday and at least 80 on Wednesday. The tolls cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.