I've ran into the same issue.

After reading https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gradle/+bug/1238322/comments/8, I installed the package from Debian: https://packages.debian.org/sid/libnative-platform-jni.

This works only partially. It fails with a different error message:

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError (no error message)

* Try:
Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

* Exception is:
java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.restrictTo(DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.java:40)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.restrictToGradleApi(DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.java:36)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.<init>(DefaultClassLoaderRegistry.java:30)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.scopes.GlobalScopeServices.createClassLoaderRegistry(GlobalScopeServices.java:215)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:547)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:73)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry.invoke(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:462)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry.access$1200(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:84)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry$FactoryMethodService.invokeMethod(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:796)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry$FactoryService.create(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:752)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry$ManagedObjectProvider.getInstance(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:589)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry$SingletonService.get(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:634)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry.applyConfigureMethod(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:253)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry.findProviderMethods(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:214)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.DefaultServiceRegistry.addProvider(DefaultServiceRegistry.java:352)
        at org.gradle.internal.service.ServiceRegistryBuilder.build(ServiceRegistryBuilder.java:52)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.BuildActionsFactory.createGlobalClientServices(BuildActionsFactory.java:153)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.BuildActionsFactory.runBuildWithDaemon(BuildActionsFactory.java:108)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.BuildActionsFactory.createAction(BuildActionsFactory.java:83)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$ParseAndBuildAction.createAction(CommandLineActionFactory.java:249)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$ParseAndBuildAction.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:239)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$ParseAndBuildAction.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:217)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.JavaRuntimeValidationAction.execute(JavaRuntimeValidationAction.java:33)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.JavaRuntimeValidationAction.execute(JavaRuntimeValidationAction.java:24)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExceptionReportingAction.execute(ExceptionReportingAction.java:33)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExceptionReportingAction.execute(ExceptionReportingAction.java:22)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$WithLogging.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:210)
        at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$WithLogging.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:174)
        at org.gradle.launcher.Main.doAction(Main.java:33)
        at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.EntryPoint.run(EntryPoint.java:45)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:547)
        at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.ProcessBootstrap.runNoExit(ProcessBootstrap.java:60)
        at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.ProcessBootstrap.run(ProcessBootstrap.java:37)
        at org.gradle.launcher.GradleMain.main(GradleMain.java:23)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InaccessibleObjectException: Unable to make protected java.lang.Package[] java.lang.ClassLoader.getPackages() accessible: module java.base does not "opens java.lang" to unnamed module @2657d4dd
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.AccessibleObject.checkCanSetAccessible(AccessibleObject.java:335)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.AccessibleObject.checkCanSetAccessible(AccessibleObject.java:278)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.checkCanSetAccessible(Method.java:196)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.setAccessible(Method.java:190)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.<init>(JavaMethod.java:42)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.<init>(JavaMethod.java:32)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.<init>(JavaMethod.java:36)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaReflectionUtil.method(JavaReflectionUtil.java:223)
        at org.gradle.internal.classloader.FilteringClassLoader.<clinit>(FilteringClassLoader.java:48)
        ... 40 more

Switching to Java 8 (via sudo update-alternatives --config java[c]) solved this for me.