Sawt Falasteen - Netanyahu says US an 'extraordinary friend' during Rubio visit

President Donald Trump rebuked Israel over the attack in Doha on Tuesday, but before departing Washington on Saturday, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was "not happy" about the strike, it was "not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis".

Nevertheless, the attack has put renewed strain on efforts towards a truce in Gaza, and Rubio acknowledged that the United States and Israel were "going to have to talk about" its impact.

Trump met on Friday with Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Rubio's visit comes as Arab and Muslim leaders began to gather in Doha ahead of a meeting Monday to express their solidarity with the Gulf state.

Netanyahu has defended the operation -- which targeted Hamas officials gathering to discuss a new US ceasefire proposal -- saying killing the group's leaders would remove the "main obstacle" to ending the Gaza war.

On Sunday, Rubio, wearing a Jewish kippa, offered prayers at Jerusalem's sacred Western Wall alongside Netanyahu and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an AFP correspondent reported.

Netanyahu, calling Rubio an "extraordinary friend" of Israel, said the diplomat's visit shows "the strength of the Israeli-American alliance".

"It's as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched," Netanyahu told journalists.

Rubio's main meetings with officials, including Netanyahu, will take place on Monday before he departs on Tuesday.

- 'Constant terror' -

In recent days, Israel has ramped up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, the territory's largest urban centre, telling residents to evacuate and blowing up numerous high-rise buildings it said were being used by Hamas.

As of late August, the UN estimated that around one million people were living in the city and its surrounding areas, where it has declared a famine it blamed on Israeli aid restrictions.

AFP images showed a column of vehicles and people on foot fleeing Gaza City southwards through a desolate landscape of destroyed buildings.

Among them were an amputee on crutches, a couple with a newborn baby and a man in a wheelchair carrying a child.

"We are living in constant terror amid relentless shelling and powerful explosions," said Sara Abu Ramadan, 20, a resident of Gaza City.

"Why such massive firepower in these rockets? What's their goal? We are dying here, with nowhere to seek refuge... and the world just watches. Why so much injustice?"

Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 38 people had been killed since dawn Sunday in Israeli strikes around the territory.

The Israeli military also issued a new evacuation order for residents of Gaza City ahead of new strikes.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

On Friday, the UN General Assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in defiance of Israeli opposition.

Israeli allies Britain and France, alongside several other Western nations, are set to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel's conduct of the Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.

Nevertheless, Israel retains the backing of its most powerful ally and biggest arms supplier, the United States.

- 'Alarming passivity' -

Ahead of Rubio's visit, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the diplomatic chief would show "our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism".

At home, opponents of the Netanyahu government have sought to pressure ministers to end the war in return for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main campaign group for the captives, accused the Israeli premier of being the "one obstacle" to freeing the hostages by sabotaging efforts to strike a deal.

Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said Rubio was unlikely to push Israel toward a ceasefire.

"There is an alarming passivity in actually getting to a ceasefire in Gaza," said Katulis, who worked on Middle East policy under former president Bill Clinton.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 64,871 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

T.Khatib--SF-PST