• Israeli forces destroy 30 more residential buildings
• 48 Palestinians killed
• Netanyahu calls Rubio ‘extraordinary friend’, says his visit shows strength of US-Israel ties

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 more residential buildings in Gaza City and displaced thousands of residents, according to Palestinian officials, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the region on Sunday to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At least 48 more Palestinians were killed since Sunday dawn as artillery shelling and gunfire by Israeli forces reported in Gaza City, as well as shelling from boats, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel has already announced its plan to seize the city, where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.

The Israeli army issued a new forced evacuation order for another building in Gaza City.

The military “will attack the building soon” due to the presence of Hamas infrastructure inside or adjacent to it, read a statement on X.

Israeli soldiers have been levelling one by one high-rise buildings in the northern city since starting a major offensive to occupy it.

Two more Palestinians died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Sunday, raising deaths from such causes to at least 422 people, including 145 children.

Israel blocked all food from entering Gaza for many months, before allowing some aid into the enclave despite the famine declared by the United Nations, which warned that far more was needed.

Thousands of people are estimated to have left Gaza City, but mostly the Palestinians are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel had asked them to go after designating it as a ‘humanitarian zone’. People say that Israel has repeatedly hit so-called humanitarian zones.

In a post on X, UNRWA says Israel’s bombardment of Gaza City has been “constant” on Sunday, adding that there is “no safe place” in the besieged enclave.

Many Palestinians say they cannot afford to leave while others have pinned hopes on the Doha summit to pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.

14,000 buildings, shelters destroyed in a month

Hamas said that Israeli forces have destroyed at least 1,600 residential buildings and 13,000 tents since August 11.

In one of the latest strikes, Israeli forces stormed al-Khader Girls Elementary School in Jerusalem’s Old City and assaulted the mayor, Ahmad Salah, the head of the Parents Council, and a municipality member, Issam Naim, the Wafa news agency reports.

Mahmoud Abdullah, head of the Parents Council at al-Khader Unified Schools, said Israeli forces stormed the elementary school as students were leaving.

Abdullah added that soldiers beat him, Salah and Naim with rifle butts and their hands, causing bruises. He added that the troops threatened to “close all seven schools”.

The school complex has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces who target both female and male students.

At least 64,871 people have been killed and 164,610 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza while millions have been displaced since October 2023.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2025