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Rubio and Netanyahu joint press conference due to begin shortly
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is due to hold a joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem imminently.
You can follow along here, with the live stream due to start shortly:
And we will bring you any significant news lines here in the blog.
At least 16 Palestinians killed in two strikes on Gaza City
Israel destroyed a score of buildings in Gaza City, killing at least 16 Palestinians, local health authorities said on Monday, while US secretary of state Marco Rubio discussed the war with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
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, Reuters reported.
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 UN 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.
Rubio in Israel for talks to limit diplomatic damage over Qatar strikes
Julian Borger
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
“This alliance has never been stronger,” Netanyahu told reporters. “It’s as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched.”
He paused in apparent expectation that the secretary of state would speak, but Rubio said nothing. Part of his mission on this two-day visit is to convey Donald Trump’s irritation at the Tuesday’s Israeli missile strike on Doha that was aimed at Hamas leadership but killed their aides and a Qatari security officer.
The attack has shaken faith among Washington’s allies in the Arab world that the US can protect them, and particularly infuriated Qatar, a close ally who the US has encouraged to host Hamas officials and broker negotiations.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Middle East crisis live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines throughout the day.
We start with news that Qatar is preparing to host a summit later today over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week. It is hoping that a group of Arab and Islamic nations will offer a way to restrain Israel, AP reports.
The attack on Hamas leaders came as Qatar serves as a key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war, something Doha insisted it will continue to do even after the assault.
“It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told a meeting Sunday.
However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve, given some nations already have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel and may be reluctant to sever ties.
“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said.
“The key question is whether ... [the summit will] signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”
In other developments:
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
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Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the militant group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called the last bastion of the militant Palestinian group.
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Doctors and medical staff at the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza say they will be overwhelmed by a wave of new wounded and sick patients if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the north of the devastated territory in the face of an intensifying Israeli offensive. Dr Mohammed Saqr, the director of nursing at the Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, said there were not enough staff to cope with even existing demand and that supplies of medicine and fuel were running low.
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A growing number of universities, academic institutions and scholarly bodies around the world are cutting links with Israeli academia amid claims that it is complicit in the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 63,000 people have been killed in the territory – the majority of them civilians – with the true toll likely far higher. UN-backed experts have confirmed parts of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble, are now in a “man-made” famine.
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Palestinian Oscar-winning director Basel Adra said Israeli soldiers conducted a raid at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, searching for him and going through his wife’s phone. Israeli settlers attacked his village, injuring two of his brothers and one cousin, Adra told The Associated Press. He accompanied them to the hospital. While there, he said that he heard from family in the village that nine Israeli soldiers had stormed his home.
