Israeli forces demolished at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and displaced thousands, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived to discuss the conflict’s future.
Israel has said it plans to fully occupy the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called the resistance group's last bastion.
Hamas' political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible cease-fire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
"What's happened, has happened," he said. "We're gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We're gonna talk about what the future holds," Rubio said before heading to Israel, where he will stay until Tuesday.
