JERUSALEM – On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Israel amid its military’s heightened assaults on northern Gaza, which resulted in the destruction of several high-rise buildings and the death of at least 13 Palestinians.

Prior to his visit, Rubio expressed his intention to discuss with Israeli officials their future plans for Gaza, especially in light of Israel’s recent actions against Hamas leaders in Qatar, which disrupted ongoing peace negotiations.

The primary purpose of Rubio’s two-day trip is to signal support for Israel, as it faces growing isolation while the United Nations prepares for a potentially heated debate over the establishment of a Palestinian state—a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes.

Rubio visits Israel despite anger over Qatar attack

Despite friction stemming from President Donald Trump’s displeasure at not being informed in advance of the Israeli operation in Doha, which strained U.S. and Israeli relations, Rubio proceeded with his visit.

On Sunday, Netanyahu and Rubio, accompanied by their spouses and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, visited the Western Wall and the nearby excavated tunnels.

“I believe Rubio’s visit signifies the resilience and power of the Israeli-American partnership. It is as steadfast and enduring as the ancient stones of the Western Wall that we just visited,” stated Netanyahu.

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, which killed at least six people, also 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.

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic nations were to meet in Doha on Sunday to forge a united front about the Israeli attack ahead of a summit in Qatar on Monday that will bring together leaders from their nations for top-level talks.

Deadly airstrikes mount

On Sunday, at least 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals.

Local hospitals said Israeli strikes targeted a vehicle 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 military destroyed multiple high-rise buildings Sunday, after warning residents to evacuate. Some were destroyed less than an hour after an evacuation order was posted online by the military spokesman Avichay Adraee.

The military said that Hamas had positioned observation posts and ways to gather intelligence about troop movement in the area, and that Hamas militants were poised to strike Israeli troops.

Residents said the Kauther tower in the Rimal neighborhood was flattened to the ground. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“This is part of the genocidal measures the (Israeli) occupation is carrying out in Gaza City,” said Abed Ismail, a Gaza City resident. “They want to turn the whole city into rubble, and force the transfer and another Nakba.”

The word Nakba is Arabic for catastrophe and refers to when some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by Israeli forces or fled their homes in what is now Israel, before and during the 1948 war that surrounded its creation.

Israeli strongly denies accusations of genocide in Gaza.

“The skyline of Gaza is changing,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X along with footage of the strikes that destroyed one of the buildings.

Starvation in Gaza

Separately, two Palestinian adults died of causes related to malnutrition and starvation in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry reported Sunday.

That has brought the death toll from malnutrition-related causes to 277 since late June, when the ministry started to count fatalities among this age category, while another 145 children died of malnutrition-related causes since the start of the war in October 2023, the ministry said.

The Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza said that over 1,200 trucks carrying aid, primarily food, entered into Gaza over the past week.

Aid workers say the aid that does get into Gaza is far too little and insufficient for the territory’s enormous needs. Much of it is also looted before it can reach the Palestinians in desperate need.

International teams also finished repair work on a water line from Israel to Gaza, one of three water lines from Israel to Gaza, increasing the daily amount of water coming into Gaza from Israel to 14,000 cubic meters (3.7 million gallons).

Over the 23 months since Israel launched its offensive, Gaza’s water access has been progressively limited and the strip is now enduring a second scorching summer in wartime. Parents and children often chase down water trucks that come every two or three days, filling bottles, canisters and buckets and then hauling them home.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians. There are still 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, of whom 20 Israel believes are still alive.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed and around 90% of some 2 million Palestinians have been displaced. ___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.