Live updates: Follow the latest on Trump's Gulf trip
Donald Trump on Friday predicted that "good things" will come to Gaza within the next month, as his Middle East trip coincided with intensified Israeli bombing of the strip.
Mr Trump expressed a desire to "help out" Palestinians as he acknowledged that "a lot of people are starving in Gaza". Displaced people were fleeing northern Beit Lahia on Friday with belongings piled on cars, lorries and horse-drawn carts after the latest strikes killed at least 250 people.
A US and Israeli-backed aid foundation plans to begin distributing food this month, in a plan the UN and aid groups have dismissed as favouring the Israeli military. "We have to also help out the Palestinians," Mr Trump said.
"I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month," he said aboard Air Force One as he left the UAE to return to the White House.
He did not give further details, and hopes that his Middle East visit would bring progress towards a Gaza ceasefire have not come to fruition. Special envoy Steve Witkoff travelled with Mr Trump but the US denied reports of a direct meeting with Hamas.
Parts of Gaza have faced relentless attacks since the early hours of Friday, according to a civil defence agency. Authorities say they cannot provide a full casualty count due to the continuing bombardment.
Flight from Beit Lahia
Ahmad Abu Sharekh is one of many Gazans fleeing Beit Lahia in the north of the strip. Having already lost a leg – and his home – in the early days of the war, the 25-year-old has now had to abandon a tent in Beit Lahia due to Israeli shelling nearby.
“The warplanes are striking anything that still stands,” he told The National.
“They tell us to evacuate, and when we do, they bomb the people on the move. It’s not easy to leave everything behind and keep running from death.”
Nearby, there were reports of 30 bodies arriving at Gaza's Indonesian Hospital in the latest overnight attacks. The latest Israeli escalation has targeted both northern Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
The territory's health ministry said at least 250 civilians have died in the recent strikes, with many more injured, as Israeli shelling hits densely populated areas, residential buildings and civil infrastructure.
“Our teams have recovered more than 50 martyrs from homes targeted today alone, 11 of them from a single family,” said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence, as he described massive devastation and a growing inability for emergency services to cope.
“The occupation is targeting anyone who moves in the north. We are overwhelmed; we simply cannot respond to all the distress calls," he said.
Trapped under rubble
Mr Bassal said some people trapped under rubble were unreachable due to the continued bombardment and the destruction of rescue equipment. He said 85 per cent of civil defence resources had been destroyed during the war.
“People are dying under the rubble because we can no longer save them. Our entire emergency response system is collapsing," he said.
“All areas of the Gaza Strip are under direct assault. What we’re witnessing is a campaign of systematic killing.”
The destruction has forced thousands to flee again, many of them for the second or third time since the war began. For many in Gaza, hope for a ceasefire is rapidly fading.
President Trump's visit to the Gulf – in pictures
Mr Trump's visit to the region had raised faint hopes of diplomatic progress. Instead, residents say it has coincided with further escalation.
“We thought his visit would bring some pressure for peace,” said Rawhi. “But instead, Israel is accelerating its plans to erase us.”
With the borders tightly sealed, nowhere is safe.
“Our chances of survival are slipping away,” he added. “We are preparing ourselves for what we feared most, that Gaza may soon cease to exist.”
