Rubio arrives in Israel as Israeli strikes intensify in northern Gaza
JERUSALEM AP U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Sunday as Israel intensified its attacks against northern Gaza flattening another high-rise building and killing at least Palestinians Rubio announced ahead of the trip that he will be seeking answers from Israeli agents about how they see the way forward in Gaza following Israel s attack on Hamas operatives in Qatar last week that upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict His two-day visit is also a show of promotion for the increasingly isolated Israel as the United Nations holds what is expected to be a contentious debate on commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly opposes the recognition of a Palestinian state Rubio s visit went ahead despite President Donald Trump s anger at Netanyahu over the Israeli strike against Hamas leaders in Doha which he revealed the United States was not notified of beforehand On Friday Rubio and Trump met with Qatar s prime minister to discuss the fallout from the Israeli operation The dual back-to-back meetings with Israel and Qatar illustrate how Trump administration is trying to balance relations between key Middle East allies despite the attack s widespread international condemnation The Doha attack also and appears to have ended attempts to secure an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the release of hostages ahead of the upcoming U N General Assembly session at which the Gaza war is expected to be a primary focus On Sunday at least Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza according to local hospitals Local hospitals stated Israeli strikes targeted a van near Shifa hospital and a roundabout in Gaza City and a tent in the city of Deir al-Balah that killed at least six members of the same family Two parents their three children and the children s aunt were killed in that strike according to the Al-Aqsa hospital The family was from the northern town of Beit Hanoun and arrived in Deir al-Balah last week after fleeing their shelter in Gaza City The Israeli military did not have immediate comment on the strikes As part of its expanding operation in Gaza City the Israeli military destroyed a high-rise residential building on Sunday morning less than an hour after an evacuation order posted online by the military spokesman Avichay Adraee Residents mentioned explained the Kauther tower in the Rimal neighborhood was flattened to the ground There were no immediate reports of casualties This part of the genocidal measures the Israeli occupation is carrying out in Gaza City explained Abed Ismail a Gaza City resident They want to turn the whole city into rubble and force the transfer and another Nakba Israeli strongly denies accusations of genocide in Gaza Separately two Palestinian adults died of causes related to malnutrition and starvation in the Gaza Strip over the last hours the territory s fitness ministry disclosed Sunday That has brought the death toll from malnutrition-related causes to since late June when the ministry started to count fatalities among this age category while another children died of malnutrition-related causes since the start of the war in October the ministry noted The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct abducting people and killing specific mostly civilians There are still hostages remaining in Gaza of whom Israel believes are still alive Israel s retaliatory offensive has killed at least Palestinians according to Gaza s Soundness Ministry which does not say how various were civilians or combatants It says around half of those killed were women and children Large parts of major cities have been perfectly destroyed and around of specific million Palestinians have been displaced Magdy announced from Cairo Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv Israel contributed to this document Source
