IDF launches Gaza City ground offensive; U.N. report finds Israel is committing genocide

Relentless airstrikes and heavy shelling pounded Gaza City’s neighborhoods on Tuesday but hundreds of thousands of residents refused to leave. “Better to die here, weeping in Gaza, than to wander in exile.” Ahmed Helles, 54, a father of eight, told NBC News while sitting beside the ruins of his home.

He added, “Why should I leave? Gaza is unlivable now. That is exactly what the occupation wants — to erase this city, to topple its towers and homes, to empty it of people. I will not give them that victory.”

Nearby, Ibrahim Salamat, 48, a father of six, explained why he has chosen to stay. “I have no money to leave. I move from street to street, escaping the shelling on foot, carrying my children to slightly safer corners. Yet I am still in Gaza. I don’t know if I will ever make it to the south.”

Some Gaza City residents say that the arduous journey to the southern portion of the Palestinian enclave is filled with uncertainty. “Where should I go? The south is overcrowded, there are no homes, no shelter,” said Ahmed Obeid, 40, a father of eight. “Many went there and came back with nothing. The enemy is the same, whether here or there. I will stay in Gaza and endure whatever fate god writes for me.”

Some Palestinians woke up this morning beneath the wreckage of their homes following Israel's latest onslaught in Gaza.

Wad'i Nabil Mohamed Salah Masoud, a young boy, was pinned under debris and called out for help. “I kept screaming and screaming and screaming, until the civil defense team took me out,” he told NBC News.

Masoud wore a bandage around his forehead as he walked past rubble, waiting for 26 members of his family to be recovered, including his father, mother and siblings. A civil defense team had been working to get them out since the early hours of the morning.

"I am asking the world to end the war because we are children," he said.

Elsewhere in Gaza, people bid farewell to their loved ones, covered in blankets and white sheets. A pool of blood could be seen on the ground near one of the bodies and a man held up a dead child covered in soot.

‘Shame on them!’: Bereaved Gazan father rages at Israeli airstrikes

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"Shame on them!" he said, noting that the child had been killed along with her mother and sister. "This is the ethical army, it is the most ethical army in the world. It kills children. This is the most ethical army in the world, here they are!"

The man added, "There is no safe place in Gaza."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that U.S. President Donald Trump has invited him to the White House.

"This will happen in two weeks on Monday, after my speech at the U.N.," Netanyahu said.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called probable European Union efforts to pressure the country by reimposing duties on certain goods "profoundly disturbing."

In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Saar said such a move would empower a “terrorist organization responsible for and continuing to perpetrate heinous crimes, while Israel, a longstanding partner of the EU, fights an existential war.”

Earlier, E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Euronews that the European Commission was proposing reimposing duties on Israeli goods in response to the war in Gaza and violations in the West Bank.

E.U.-Israel trade was 42.6 billion euros ($50.5 billion) in 2024, with preferential treatment amounting to 37% of that, she added, according to Euronews.

The European Commission was due to agree to the proposals tomorrow. 

Flames engulf a pickup truck loaded with household goods in Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike, according to video circulating social media and verified by NBC News.

“They are displaced children, oh Allah, they are displaced people,” a person can be heard saying in the video, which shows others rushing to help people scattered on the ground next to the blazing vehicle.

A child covered in blood is carried away amid screaming, while sleeping pads and kitchen supplies piled on the truck fuel the flames.

The video reflects other footage seen today of packed cars carrying some of the thousands of Palestinians trying to escape the city amid an intensifying Israeli ground incursion.

U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Yvette Cooper called Israel's newest offensive on Gaza "utterly reckless and appalling."

"It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages," she wrote in a post on X. "We need an immediate ceasefire, all hostages released, unrestricted humanitarian aid and a path to lasting peace."

Cooper's sentiments echo those of many, including High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, who said the offensive "will mean more death, more destruction & more displacement" in a post on X.

Cooper began her role as foreign affairs minister this month.

The IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has defended Israel's new offensive in Gaza amid widespread dismay and international condemnation.

The Israeli military operates in line with international law and does its "utmost to mitigate harm to civilians," Zamir said in a statement.

"In this operation, we are acting to defeat a terrorist organization that proclaims from every platform that its objective is to eliminate the very existence of the State of Israel," he added.

Leaders from around the world have condemned the offensive and called it a violation of international law. Meanwhile, an independent United Nations commission of inquiry has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

According to reports in the Israeli and U.S. media, Zamir has pushed back on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to control Gaza City, raising concerns about the exhaustion of reservists, the safety of hostages and the potential of troops having to govern millions of Palestinians. The IDF commander's stance intensified tensions between him and members of Netanyahu's cabinet, including Defense Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, The New York Times reported last month.

Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza with their belongings as Israel forces pounded the enclave's largest city.

“Blowing up high-rise buildings. It took years for them to build — they flattened them,” Samira Issa, who was displaced from Gaza City, told The Associated Press. “I am begging the entire world, and all the Arab nations, all kings and presidents, to stand by us and to salvage us. We are tired.”

She summed up conditions in Gaza as “destruction and death.”

Amid the chaos of the evacuating crowd, a young boy fed his bird. Naser al-Nabieh pulled a cart carrying his belongings with his remaining children. Some of his children did not survive, he told the AP.

“My kids were martyred, and my house is gone," the Gaza City native told the outlet. “My life is gone. I have nothing left. I want to survive with the kids. I want to survive with what is left."

Ahmed Kafarna from Beit Hanoun has lost hope that the war will end and said he just wants to find safety.

“From the magnitude of what we have seen, we now hope to leave,” he said. “We are exhausted. We are unable to live, and we cannot move from one place to the other.”

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said what is happening in Gaza is horrendous and that the war in the Palestinian territory is morally, politically and legally intolerable.

Guterres also said he would be willing to meet with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.N. next week. 

Israel continues to receive criticism for its ground offensive in Gaza today.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said in a statement that Israel's ground offensive in Gaza will make a bad situation worse.

The scene of an overnight Israeli strike on Gaza City this morning.  Ebrahim Hajjaj / Reuters

"It will mean more death, more destruction and more displacement," she wrote on X, adding that tomorrow the European Commission plans on presenting measures to pressure the Israeli government "to change course over the war in Gaza."

Egypt and Jordan's ministries of foreign affairs condemned Israel's intense assault on Gaza, calling it a violation on international humanitarian law.

Both nations reiterated their calls for an end to the war in the enclave.

Sirens sounded in several parts of Israel after a projectile was launched from Yemen, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The details are under review, it added.

In addition to its ground offensive in Gaza, the Israeli military said it was striking military targets in Yemen belonging to the country’s Houthi militant group.

Funerals held today in Sanaa, Yemen following Israeli airstrikes last week.  Mohammed Huwais / AFP - Getty Images

Military infrastructure was struck in the port of Hodeidah, IDF said in a statement, adding that it was used “for the transfer of weapons supplied by the Iranian regime, in order to execute attacks against the State of Israel and its allies.”

In a separate post on X, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Houthis would “continue to suffer blows and will pay painful prices” for attacks on his country.

President Donald Trump warned today that Hamas militants will be in “big trouble” if they use hostages held in Gaza as human shields.

Asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given him any kind of call or made contact ahead of the latest military incursion into Gaza City, Trump said no.

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The U.N. commission that found Israel committed genocide in Gaza used the same standard set by the International Court of Justice in the case that held Serbia responsible for genocide in Bosnia, the agency’s human rights office said.

“In establishing genocidal intent, the Commission applied the ‘only reasonable inference’ standard set forth by the International Court of Justice in the case of Bosnia v. Serbia,” it said.

The U.N. rights office said it analyzed statements from Israeli authorities as well as the pattern of conduct of Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza, “including imposing starvation and inhumane conditions for life for Palestinians in Gaza.”

It found genocidal intent was “the only reasonable inference that could be concluded from the nature of their operations.”

Israel’s strike on Hamas negotiators in Doha last week, was “a shocking breach of international law,” the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said today.

“Targeting parties engaged in internationally supported mediation on its territory undermines Qatar’s key role as a facilitator and peace broker,” Volker Turk said during a debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Turk called on the council and all governments to join him in condemning the strike.

“This is the latest in a long list of illegal facts on the ground that are bringing the two-state solution closer and closer to a point of no return,” he said.

UNICEF has decried Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza City as "inhumane."

According to the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, over the past few days more than 70,000 people have fled south from Gaza City, and about 150,000 have done so over the past month.

Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza today.  Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram described seeing large numbers of people fleeing down the main road of Gaza City this week.

"It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict to flee one hellscape to end up in another," Ingram wrote on X.

An 11-year-old Palestinian, Marah Haddad, was rescued today by civil defense teams after being trapped for nearly 10 hours under rubble after an Israeli strike targeted a residential area in Sheva Square. She was transferred to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City for treatment.

The director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital said that the bodies of at least 96 people had arrived at hospitals across the enclave since dawn today.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya said that 84 bodies had been transported to hospitals in Gaza City alone.

"Medical staff are unable to provide the necessary services due to a lack of medical resources and supplies," Abu Salmiya told NBC News.

The bodies of Palestinians are brought to Al-Shifa Hospital today. Saeed M. M. T. Jaras / Anadolu via Getty Images

European powers have condemned Israel's ground assault on Gaza City.

Britain's foreign secretary called the offensive "utterly reckless and appalling."

"It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages," Yvette Cooper said in a statement on X.

Germany also called for an immediate ceasefire, saying Israel's approach was "wrong."

"The recent offensive toward Gaza City is the completely wrong approach in this regard. We reject this and have made this clear to the Israeli government," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters during a joint news conference with his Swedish counterpart in Berlin.

Smoke rises from a strike in Gaza City today. Ali Jadallah / Anadolu via Getty Images

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said that "any change by force of territory would be a breach of international law" and that her country would continue to pressure both Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to enter the enclave.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described Israel's ground offensive in Gaza City as a "deliberate targeting of civilians."

In a statement on X, it said the operation would displace nearly 1 million Palestinians and turn Gaza City into a "mass graveyard" and "an uninhabitable land."

The ministry urged the international community to intervene and push for an immediate ceasefire.

"The failure of international diplomacy to stop the war is suspicious and unjustified," the statement said.

Dozens killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza City as new offensive begins

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Satellite imagery captured this morning shows around 40 IDF ground vehicles positioned in northeast Gaza City, parked up beside a large pool in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

A buildup of military vehicles marked in the Sheikh Radwan Pool area of Gaza City this morning. Planet Labs; NBC News

The vehicles could be seen in satellite pictures taken yesterday, but were not present in older imagery, indicating their recent positioning in the area.

Comparing the new images to those taken Sept. 1 shows that a large amount of buildings around the pool have been destroyed or damaged.

The Sheikh Radwan Pool area of Gaza City on Sept. 1. Planet Labs

New dirt tracks can also be seen in the new imagery, crossing through the area previously occupied by buildings.

The Israeli military has demanded everyone in the area of the Port of Hodeidah in Yemen flee ahead of a coming attack.

The IDF said it would launch an attack "in the coming hours" in the area "in light of military activities" it said were being carried out by Houthi rebels.

"For your safety, we urge all those present at the Port of Hodeidah and the ships anchored there to evacuate the area immediately," the IDF said, adding that the lives of anyone who remained in the area would be in danger.

It comes days after Israel launched a round of heavy airstrikes in Yemen in an attack that killed dozens of people after Houthi rebels carried out a drone strike that hit an Israeli airport.

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on Israel to immediately halt its ground assault on Gaza City, demanding Israeli forces "stop the carnage" in the already famine-stricken area.

“I can only think of what it means for women, for malnourished children, for people with disabilities, if they are again attacked in this way," Turk told reporters in Geneva today, according to the Reuters news agency.

11-year-old Marah Haddad is rescued from beneath the rubble following an Israeli strike on Gaza City today. Khames Alrefi / Anadolu via Getty Images

“Palestinians, Israelis scream for peace. Everyone wants an end to this, and what we see is a further escalation which is totally and utterly unacceptable,” he said, adding: “I call on Israel to stop its wanton destruction of Gaza.”

His comments came after a U.N. commission of inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials, including the country's prime minister, incited acts of genocide.

Israel’s much-anticipated ground incursion into Gaza City has incited criticism and warnings from much of the international community, advocacy and aid organizations, as well as the family members of the remaining Israeli hostages.

But behind closed doors, it has also elicited protests from Israel’s military leadership, who are charged with executing the political decision but whose ranks have been stretched by nearly two years of war on multiple fronts. 

Israel escalates assault on Gaza City with ground offensive

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The top critic, according to Israeli media reports and one Israeli official briefed on the internal discussions, is Eyal Zamir, the chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces. 

In meetings Friday with the parliamentary Committee for Intelligence Affairs, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Zamir also complained that the prime minister had not yet identified plans for a “day after” in the Gaza Strip, meaning the expanded military operations lacked a strategy to ultimately end the war.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has left Doha, after less than three hours on the ground in the U.S. ally that has been left reeling by Israel's attack last week.

He met with Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Rubio departs Hamad International Airport in Doha today. Nathan Howard / AFP - Getty Images

"Secretary Rubio reaffirmed the strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Qatar, and thanked Qatar for its efforts to end the war in Gaza and bring all hostages home," the State Department said in a statement.

It added that Rubio had reiterated America's "strong support for Qatar's security and sovereignty."

A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a briefing today that defense cooperation between the two nations was also discussed.

Momentum is building to exclude Israel from the world’s largest music competition as outrage grows around the world about its assault on the Gaza Strip.

Spain has become the latest country to threaten to boycott Israel’s continued participation of the Eurovision Song Contest, the glitzy singing competition that is watched by some 160 million people around the world every May.

 Sebastian Reuter / Getty Images

In a statement, Spanish broadcaster RTVE said its board had voted to withdraw from the 2026 competition if Israel participates. 

It came after Irish broadcaster RTÉ and Dutch broadcaster Avrotros also issued statements earlier this month, saying they would not take part if Israel were allowed to compete.

Read the full story here.

The "main phase" of Israel's long-awaited ground offensive on Gaza City has begun, an Israeli military official has said.

The official told reporters at a briefing that the number of ground troops moving deeper into the city would increase in the coming days.

The official said Gaza City was "the main stronghold of Hamas," estimating that between 2,000 and 3,000 Hamas militants remain in the area.

It is also home to hundreds of thousands of civilians. The military said that more than 350,000 people had already left and that Israel continues to do everything it can to get civilians out of harms way.

The official also reiterated claims made earlier this month, that the Israeli military has established control over 40% of Gaza City.

Palestinians fled intensifying Israeli shelling of Gaza City by foot, horse cart, bicycle, car and minivan. Many traveled toward central Gaza through Al-Rashid Street, carrying their limited belongings.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for Israel to be banned from international sports competitions, for as long as its "barbaric acts" in Gaza continue.

"The sports organizations should consider whether it's ethical for Israel to keep participating in international competitions," Sánchez told members of his Socialist Party yesterday.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the last stage of the "Vuelta a España" cycling race in Madrid on Sunday. Thomas Coex / AFP via Getty Images

Sánchez spoke a day after pro-Palestinian protests in Madrid turned violent, causing the cancellation of the final stage of the "Vuelta a España" cycling race.

Earlier, Sánchez expressed "admiration for the Spanish people mobilizing for just causes like Palestine" by protesting during the race. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar branded Sanchez "a disgrace to Spain" in a post on X.

The United Nations commission that found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza "incited" by Israeli officials has called on the international community not to "stay silent."

The commission concluded that Netanyahu, Herzog and now-former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant incited the commission of genocide - and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action to "punish this incitement."

The commission urged the government of Israel to comply with its international legal obligations, "including to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip." It further called for intervention from the international community.

“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, said. “Every day of inaction costs lives and erodes the credibility of the international community."

Families of Israeli hostages protested outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem after news emerged that Israel had launched a ground offensive in Gaza City.

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Families of Israeli hostages protested outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem after news emerged that Israel had launched a ground offensive in Gaza City.

“We heard the bombs getting stronger all over Gaza. Our children are there. The Prime Minister Netanyahu, instead of saving our children, is bombing them,” she told Reuters.

The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said Netanyahu was not at his Jerusalem residence during last night’s protest. The group said this morning it had established a permanent encampment outside his residence.

The Israeli military says its troops "have begun expanded ground operations in Gaza City" as a part of what it dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots II.

"The troops’ activity began according to the operational plan and is expected to expand in line with the current situational assessment," it said.

The Israeli air force has struck more than 850 "terror targets" and "hundreds of terrorists" in Gaza City in the past week, the IDF said in the statement.

Israeli soldiers next to armored personnel carriers near the Gaza border, in Israel today. Amir Cohen / Reuters

Smoke rises following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel today. Leo Correa / AP

The IDF said its troops are operating in the security zone along the border facing the western Negev communities and in the Rafah and Khan Younis areas. The military's statement said its troops also continue operating in the northern part of the enclave.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already facing a difficult diplomatic task. Now Israel has launched a full scale ground offensive on Gaza City while he is in the region. 

Even more challenging, the news came while he is in Qatar’s capital, Doha, to try to encourage the Gulf state to keep mediating between Israel and Hamas. Qatari officials are furious after Israel fired rockets at the Hamas political office in the same city last week. 

Yesterday, Arab leaders called on the White House to put pressure on Israel. “We expect our strategic partners to use their influence on Israel to stop this behavior. We really do expect that,” the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem alBudaiwi, said yesterday in response to a question from NBC News. 

“They have leverage and influence on Israel and it’s about time this leverage was used.”

Instead, the Trump administration is standing aside while Israel puts more pressure on Hamas. But it’s also putting huge pressure on America’s relations with its Arab allies. And so far, Hamas has not surrendered.

U.N. commission finds Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

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Statements made by Israeli civilian and military authorities along with the "pattern of conduct" of Israeli forces indicate Israel's actions in Gaza have been "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians" in the enclave as a group, the United Nations' human rights office said after a U.N. commission found Israel had committed genocide in the enclave.

The commission had been investigating the events on and since Oct. 7, 2023, for the past nearly two years, the U.N. agency said, adding that it had concluded Israeli authorities and security forces had committed "four of the five genocidal acts" defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Those acts include "killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births," the U.N. body said.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, said in a statement after the group concluded that Netanyahu, Herzog and Gallant had incited the commission of genocide.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Doha, Qatar, less than a week after Israel attacked senior Hamas figures meeting in the capital of the U.S. ally.

Rubio met with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, upon his arrival. The pair shook hands, but offered no public remarks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha today. Nathan Howard / POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier, Rubio called for Qatar to continue its role as mediator between Israel and Hamas, telling reporters "we hope they'll re-engage despite everything that's happened" while departing Tel Aviv for Doha.

"If any country in the world can help mediate it, Qatar is the one," he said.

Qatar condemned the Israeli attack as "cowardly and treacherous," but said it wouldn't deter it from its role as mediator.

Rubio also told reporters that the U.S. and Qatar are on the verge of finalizing an enhanced defense cooperation agreement, without providing specifics.

Explosions seen in Gaza overnight from southern Israel

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Large explosions were seen overnight in Gaza from southern Israel as the IDF expanded its military operation in Gaza City. In a social media post, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Gaza was “burning,” adding that Israel will “not relent.”

Israel has launched a "significant" operation in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said this morning.

He made the remarks while testifying in his long-running corruption trial in Tel Aviv.

"We have launched a significant operation in Gaza," Netanyahu told the court.

Israeli military vehicles by the border fence in the besieged Palestinian territory today. Menahem Kahana / AFP via Getty Images

Far-right Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also posted on X, declaring that Israel's long-awaited campaign had begun overnight.

An independent United Nations inquiry has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

In a new report, the team of three experts commissioned by the United Nations say that Israel has committed four of the five "genocidal acts" defined under international law.

"It is clear there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention," wrote Navi Pillay, the head of the team and a former U.N. rights chief.

A heavily damaged building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City yesterday. Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP via Getty Images

The report concludes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had orchestrated the commission of genocide.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said it rejects the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel had “begun to take operations” in Gaza City, increasing pressure on Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal.

“We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal could happen,” he told reporters before leaving Tel Aviv for Doha, Qatar. “We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks. So it’s a key moment.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel, this morning. Nathan Howard / Pool via AFP-Getty Images

Rubio's visit to Qatar comes after an Israeli strike on its soil last week that outraged Doha, a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war, as well as other U.S. allies in the region. The Trump administration has tried to distance itself from the strike, which Israel said targeted Hamas political leaders.

Rubio said Qatar could play a “very key role” in negotiating an end to the conflict.

“We don’t want to see anything that undermines that,” he said. “So that’s why we added it to the trip.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Gaza was “burning” as the Israeli military “strikes with an iron fist.”

"Gaza is burning," he said in a post on X. "The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas."

"We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission," he said.

It was not immediately clear whether Katz was commenting on a new ground operation.

The Israeli military's expanded offensive in Gaza City has begun, with forces ramping up strikes on the famine-stricken area overnight.

"The IDF has begun dismantling Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza City," the Israel Defense Forces' Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X this morning. “Gaza City is a dangerous combat zone.”

The Israeli military and government did not immediately respond to requests for more information from NBC News.

The development comes as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Gaza was "burning" in a post on X this morning and as hospital officials reported a growing number of people killed in strikes.