JERUSALEM, Sept 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Top US diplomat Marco Rubio prayed at 
Jerusalem's Western Wall Sunday as he opened his visit to Israel, reaffirming 
the Trump administration's steadfast support in its war with Hamas despite 
backlash over a strike in Qatar.

The trip is taking place after President Donald Trump rebuked Israel over the 
unprecedented attack against Hamas leaders meeting in Doha on Tuesday.

Israel's first such strike on US ally Qatar has put renewed strain on efforts 
towards a truce in Gaza.

Before departing 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".

But he added that the United States and Israel were "going to have to talk 
about" its impact on truce efforts.

On Friday, Trump met with Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin 
Abdulrahman Al Thani, while Rubio's visit comes as Arab and Muslim leaders 
are set to meet Monday in Doha to express solidarity with the Gulf state.

Netanyahu has defended the operation, which targeted Hamas leaders gathering 
to discuss a new US ceasefire proposal.

He said that killing senior Hamas officials would remove the "main obstacle" 
to ending the war.

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

His 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 was 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 were killed since dawn 
Sunday in Israeli strikes in 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.

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, mostly 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.