GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli and U.S. officials met Wednesday in Washington to discuss post-war Gaza, even as Israel’s military called the evacuation of Gaza City “inevitable” ahead of a new offensive and no sign of a ceasefire was in sight.
The meeting took place amid mounting outrage over this week’s double Israeli strike on a southern Gaza hospital that killed journalists, emergency responders and others. The toll from the attack on Nasser Hospital rose to 22 after two more people died Wednesday, Gaza health officials said.
The Israeli military, which has said it will investigate, offered no immediate explanation for striking twice and no evidence for an assertion that six of the dead were militants.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar at the State Department, with both countries saying they discussed cooperation on Iran, ending the war in Gaza, the situations in Lebanon and Syria, and next month’s session of the U.N. General Assembly, at which the Israel-Hamas conflict is likely to be a hot topic.
The State Department said Rubio reaffirmed America’s “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”