Israel attacks on Gaza City continue as Rubio arrives in Israel

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Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said 10 UNRWA buildings had been hit in Gaza over the past four days.

"This includes seven schools and two clinics currently used as shelters for thousands of displaced people. We were forced to stop health care in Beach (Al-Shati refugee) Camp, the only health care available north of Wadi Gaza. Our vital water & sanitation services are now only at half capacity," he wrote on X Sunday night.

He said a total of 11,000 people working with UNRWA are continuing to provide critical services in other parts of northern Gaza and the rest of the Strip.

No place is safe in #Gaza
No one is safe.

Airstrikes in Gaza City & the north are intensifying.
More & more people are forced to leave, disoriented & uncertain, heading into the unknown.

Only in the past four days, 10 UNRWA buildings have been hit in #Gaza City.
This…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) September 14, 2025

Israel called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his government "a disgrace" to their country on Sunday, after pro-Palestinian protesters forced an early end to the Vuelta a Espana cycling race.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Sanchez of "encouraging the protesters to take to the streets" of Madrid through "his incitements," hours after the final stage of the race was abandoned because of demonstrators blocking the route.

Pro-Palestinian protesters, demanding an end to the war in Gaza, have repeatedly targeted the race because of the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team, forcing multiple stages to be cut short.

An Israeli drone strike targeted a car in south Lebanon Sunday night killing one man, the health ministry said.

The attack took place between the villages of Toulin and Burj Qalaouiyah.

Israel continues to conduct strikes on part of Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, saying it is hitting the group's weapons, military sites and officials, vowing to keep the group weakened after last year's war.

مسيّرة إسرائيلية تستهدف سيارة بين بلدتي تولين وبرج قلاويه جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/0rBGGswxGL

— Annahar النهار (@Annahar) September 14, 2025

Two ships set sail Sunday evening from the Greek island of Syros to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international mission aiming to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, AFP journalists saw.

Chanting "Free Palestine", around 500 people gathered at the port of Ermopoulis to see off the two Greece-flagged boats, the Oxygen and Ilektra, carrying goods for famine-hit Gaza along with five and eight people on board respectively.

Δύο (2) τα ελληνικά σκάφη που αναχώρησαν από την Ερμούπολη της Σύρου για τη Γάζα. Τα σκάφη αναχώρησαν με καθυστέρηση, επειδή το λιμεναρχείο δεν έδινε άδεια απόπλου.
Καλό ταξίδι ωραίοι άνθρωποι!#flotillaglobalsumud #FlotillaSumud #all_eyes_on_gaza #GazaGenocide‌ #syros #Greece pic.twitter.com/hnTMZtybGm

— Κανάλι ® (@kanaliotis) September 14, 2025

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Sunday that thousands of people forced from Gaza City and Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip were now living in overcrowded shelters and makeshift tents without clean water, sanitation, or safety.

"UNRWA continues to provide services, but the crisis is overwhelming. Displacement is growing. No place is safe," it wrote on X.

Thousands of people forced from #Gaza City and Jabalya are now in overcrowded shelters, makeshift tents — without clean water, sanitation, or safety.

UNRWA continues to provide services, but the crisis is overwhelming.

Displacement is growing.
No place is safe.#CeasefireNow… pic.twitter.com/B2NYshkUUk

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 14, 2025

Spain's far-left Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz on Sunday said Israel "cannot compete in any event while it continues to commit a genocide" as pro-Palestinian protests halted the Vuelta's final stage in Madrid.

"Spanish society has given a lesson to the world paralysing the Vuelta," Diaz added on Instagram, days after the Israeli government barred her from entry for her criticism of the war in Gaza.

Israel's attack in Qatar last week and its other actions threaten efforts to normalise ties with Arab nations, an updated draft resolution from the Arab-Islamic summit said.

"Reaffirm that the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar and the continuation of Israel's hostile acts including genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation, siege, and colonising activities and expansion policies threatens prospects of peace and coexistence in the region and threatens everything that has been achieved on the path of normalising ties with Israel including current agreements and future ones," the draft resolution seen by Reuters said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a visit to Israel by top US diplomat Marco Rubio underscored the strength of ties between the allies, days after an unprecedented Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar drew broad criticism.

The strike has put renewed strain on efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, and Rubio allowed that the United States and Israel were "going to have to talk about" its impact.

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

Netanyahu said that the visit showed the Israeli-American alliance was "as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched". Under Rubio and President Donald Trump, "the alliance has never been stronger", he added.

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

The final stage of the Vuelta a Espana was abandoned on Sunday because of huge pro-Palestinian protests in Madrid.

Thousands of protestors gathered in the Spanish capital, invading the course where the race was due to pass in the centre of Madrid, AFP journalists witnessed.

On Gran Via, where cyclists were due to pass multiple times, protestors knocked down barriers and marched into the road, some chanting for a boycott of Israel as green and red smoke filled the air.

Near Atocha, Madrid's central train station, police charged demonstrators and fired tear gas, before letting them walk into the road.

Riders, around 56 kilometres from the finish of the race, came to a halt before the Vuelta was abandoned.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors invaded part of the course where the final stage of the Vuelta a España will pass through in the centre of Madrid on Sunday, AFP journalists witnessed.

On the Gran Via, where cyclists were due to pass multiple times, protestors knocked down barriers and marched into the road, some chanting for a boycott of Israel.

NOW: Pro-Palestinian protesters storm Vuelta cycling course in Madrid pic.twitter.com/teeNTJbZaK

— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) September 14, 2025

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Doha for the emergency Arab-Muslim summit, which was received by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Wafa reports.

Among the delegation is Palestine Liberation Organisation Deputy Chairman Hussein al-Sheikh, who is viewed as Abbas' successor.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged the international community on Sunday to "stop using double standards" and punish Israel for what he described as its "crimes".

"The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed, and Israel needs to know that the ongoing war of extermination that our brotherly Palestinian people is being subjected to, and whose aim is to expel them from their land, will not work," the prime minister said.

A first group of sick and wounded children from Gaza are headed to Britain under a scheme allowing them to receive medical treatment, the UK's health ministry confirmed Sunday.

"We expect the children and their immediate family members to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks," said a health ministry statement, noting that no flight details would be released "for operational security reasons".

In an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper on Friday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the first group of children "have left Gaza and are on the way... to the UK".

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in July that Britain will evacuate Gazan children for treatment, noting most hospitals in the Palestinian territory are no longer functioning.

The government has said the scheme is essential due to the lack of vital medicines and supplies in Gaza and medical workers being unable to do their jobs safely.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Sunday that Israel's "practices" will not stop Doha's mediation efforts with Egypt and the US to end the war in Gaza.

His comments were in a televised address ahead of an expected Arab summit to discuss Israel's attack on Hamas leadership in Doha last Monday.

A closed-door meeting of Arab and muslim foreign ministers has begun in Doha, amid leaders gathering for the Arab-Islamic summit in the Qatari capital following Israeli strikes on the states.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday said pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked the Vuelta a España filled him with "pride" as large demonstrations await the race's final stage in Madrid.

In his first public comments on the debate, Sanchez expressed his "recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for a people like Spain's which mobilises for just causes, like Palestine".

"Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defence of human rights," he told a Socialist party gathering in Malaga.

The protests, which have targeted the Israel-Premier Tech team over the devastating war in Gaza, have disrupted several stages of one of cycling's three grand tours and cast doubt on whether the 21-day race could be completed.

The activism has forced some stages to be shortened and occasionally caused crashes as demonstrators burst onto the course, prompting criticism for threatening rider safety and harming Spain's image.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the visit of top US diplomat Marco Rubio underscored the "strength" of ties between the two countries.

Netanyahu, calling Rubio an "extraordinary friend" of Israel, said his visit showed "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 after offering prayers at the Jerusalem religious site alongside Rubio and Washington's envoy to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

A meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has begun following the arrival of ministers from Turkey, Pakistan and Yemen, according to Al Jazeera. 

The meeting is preparatory and will discuss the draft agenda before the Arab-Islamic Summit.

Israel's war on Gaza has now killed at least 45 Palestinians since Sunday, including 32 in Gaza City as Israel escalates its onslaught in the region.

At least 68 Palestinians have been killed and 346 injured over the past 24 hours as Israel continues its war on Gaza.

The latest deaths have totalled the number of Palestinians killed to 64,871 since October 2023; the toll does not include the thousands missing, presumed dead or trapped under the rubble.

The Israeli military revealed it had intercepted an unidentified drone from Yemen that had entered Israeli airspace.

The military said sirens were triggered over concerns of falling debris, Israel's Channel 12 reports. The airspace around Ramon Airport in southern Israel had been closed.

Israeli forces have detained at least 540 Palestinians since August 2025 as Israel escalates its raids and detention campaigns in the occupied West Bank.

The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association revealed that the detainees include 49 children and 19 women.

Over 19,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces since October 2023, including over 590 women and 1,550 children, including those who were later released.

Retired general of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi, confirmed that over 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured during the war on Gaza.

Halevi told a community meeting in southern Israel that over 10 per cent of Gaza's population had been killed or injured.

"This isn't a gentle war. We took the gloves off from the first minute. Sadly not earlier," Halevi said, suggesting the Israel should have taken a tougher action on Gaza before October 2023.

The former chief resigned in January 2025 over the October attacks.

Two more Palestinians have died from famine and severe malnutrition as Israel continues to prevent life-saving humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

The number of Israel-imposed famine-related deaths has risen to 422, including 145 children.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 32 Palestinians since Sunday as Israel continues its war on the enclave, medical sources told Wafa​​​​​​.

The opening speeches of the Qatar summit have been postponed to 2pm (11am GMT), organisers told Al Jazeera.

Qatar's PM, OIC and Arab League officials are set to make opening speeches as the summit takes place on Sunday and Monday.

Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday morning, in fierce attacks targeting various areas.

Attacks include strikes targeting tents sheltering displaced Palestinians and aid-seekers.

At least seven Palestinians were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building in the Al-Hawa neighbourhood in southern Gaza City, and four aid seekers were killed after Israeli forces opened fire north of Rafah.

Qatar said on Saturday it will host a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders to denounce Israel's attack on Hamas officials in Doha and to show solidarity with the Gulf state.

Monday's meeting would consider "a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar" to be drafted Sunday at a ministerial meeting, said foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

The summit reflected "broad Arab and Islamic solidarity with the State of Qatar in the face of Israel's cowardly aggression... and the categorical rejection of Israel's state terrorism", he said, quoted by the official QNA news agency.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way forward in Gaza following Israel's attack on Qatar that has upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict.

Rubio told reporters on Saturday before leaving for Israel that President Donald Trump remained unhappy with the Israeli strike but that it would not shake US support for Israel.

"We're going to talk about what the future holds, and I'm going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward," Rubio said. "Obviously we're not happy about it. The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next."