Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman.
President Trump is completing his Mideast trip today.
He spent the past week meeting with Gulf Arab leaders and striking multi-billion dollar defense and tech deals.
But in Pierre's Aya Batraoui reports, Trump leaves the region with the war in Gaza still flaring.
Trump's Mideast visit began just after Hamas released the last living American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza.
Hamas says it did so on the understanding the U.S. would call for a permanent ceasefire and push for aid to enter Gaza.
Instead, while in the region,
Trump appeared to double down on his idea that Palestinians in Gaza should be permanently relocated outside the territory,
saying the U.S. should get involved there and make it a, quote, freedom zone.
He then said,
but his administration's looking at people starving in Gaza under Israel's total blockade,
saying, we've got to get that taken care of without elaborating.
His comments come as Israel says it struck more than 100 Hamas sites in recent days and attacks that have killed hundreds,
including entire families.
Aya Batraoui, NPR News, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Some see President Trump's Mideast trip as an economic success.
Former Ambassador Doug Silliman is the head of the Arab Gulf States Institute,
a Washington-based non-profit think tank.
I think he's really trying to shift the focus of American traditional dealings with the Gulf from the Carter Doctrine of 45 years ago,
which was essentially oil for security, to new longer-term and deeper economic partnerships.