You might want to try:
qemu-system-i386 -machine pc-i440fx-2.2 -m 1G -drive file=debian-hurd-20190705.img,cache=writethrough
If -machine pc-i440fx-2.2
does not work for you, you can remove it... I have selected a not deprecated one, nor the latest, which works for me.
This also disable kvm, and make sure to emulate in 32 bits (normally qemu-system-x86_64 works too, but GMU Mach is only 32 bits for now... I think).
If it works, feel free to try to add:
--enable-kvm
at the end to have a faster emulation.