Rubio, Netanyahu discuss Israel's military operations in Gaza

WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday about Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Rubio also discussed efforts to help release the hostages and bring them home, the State Department said.

Emphasizing US support for Israel, he conveyed the Trump administration’s determination to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea through military operations against Yemen’s Houthi group, it added.

At least two Palestinians were killed and several others injured when the Israeli army shelled a hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night.

The Israeli military acknowledged the strike in a statement, claiming that it killed a key member of the Palestinian group Hamas.

The group released a statement saying that Ismail Barhoum, a member of its political bureau, was killed in an Israeli strike on a section of Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis while receiving treatment.

The Israeli army has killed more than 700 Palestinians and injured over 1,000 since launching a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza last Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 113,200 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.