By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Simon Lewis
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel destroyed a score of buildings in Gaza City, killing at least 16 Palestinians, local health authorities said on Monday, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the war with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Rubio’s visit coincided with an emergency summit in Qatar of Arab and Islamic states, some of them close U.S. allies, convened in response to Israel’s attack last week on leaders of Hamas who reside in the Gulf state.
While diplomacy unfolded in Jerusalem and Doha, the Palestinian death toll kept mounting with two air strikes on sites in Gaza City, one on two family homes and another on a tent housing a displaced family.
STRIKES ON GAZA CITY FROM AIR AND GROUND
Witnesses said strikes from the air and the ground hit several areas, spreading panic and prompting thousands to flee encampments established in streets and open areas.
Israel says the offensive to take control of Gaza City is part of a plan to defeat Hamas for good, and that it has warned civilians to head south to a designated humanitarian zone.
However, the U.N. and numerous countries say its tactics amount to forced mass displacement and that conditions in the humanitarian zone are dire, with food in short supply.
“Do you know what is displacement? It is extracting the soul from your body, it is humiliation and another form of death,” said Ghada, 50, a mother of five from Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City who was refusing to leave.
“They tell us to go south, and when we do, there is no guarantee they won’t bomb us there, so why bother?” she said via a chat app.
Israeli forces have been operating in at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, of which three have been largely razed. They are advancing on the centre and appear poised to move towards the west, where most of the displaced are sheltering.
According to Hamas, at least 350,000 people have fled their homes, while 1,600 residential buildings and 13,000 tents have been destroyed, since August 11, the day after Netanyahu announced plans to take control of Gaza City.
It was not possible to verify the figures independently. Images circulating on social media suggested that the flow of people moving southwards had accelerated.
In Jerusalem, Rubio and Netanyahu were scheduled to give a joint statement at 1:55 p.m. (1055 GMT), after their talks. Footage showed them hugging and shaking hands before sitting down to talk.
Rubio said before leaving Washington that he wanted to discuss how Israel would finish its war to defeat Hamas so that remaining hostages could be released, in line with President Donald Trump’s wishes.
He was also set to discuss how Israel’s strike in Qatar, which U.S. officials said did not advance Israeli or U.S. interests, would affect those goals.
RUBIO VISITS WESTERN WALL HOLY SITE WITH NETANYAHU
After Rubio arrived on Sunday, Netanyahu and his wife Sara led him and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, and their wives, on a tour of the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site.
They also visited a nearby archeological site where Israel has excavated ruins, a controversial project adjacent to the Temple Mount, which is also a holy site for Muslims, who call it Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary.
Hamas said the visit to the Western Wall, which Muslims call the Al-Buraq Wall, was an assault on the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa mosque inside the compound.
The militant group said the visit reaffirmed “the bias and full partnership of the current U.S. administration in the occupation’s crimes against our people, land, and holy sites”.
A State Department spokesperson said late on Sunday that Rubio was proud to visit the site with Netanyahu and that this reaffirmed “America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital”.
In Doha, leaders were set to warn that Israel’s attack in Qatar threatened coexistence and efforts to normalise ties in the region, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters.
At least one ordinary Palestinian was dismissive.
“We have never placed much hope in Arab leaders and their summits,” said Ahmed Nemer, 45, from Gaza City.
“The final statement is written by the Americans or is vetted by the Americans, so what can we expect?”
Israel’s nearly two-year-long campaign against Hamas has killed more than 64,000 people in Gaza, according to local authorities. It was prompted by the militant group’s attack on Israel in October 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Simon Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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