JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's defense minister said Tuesday that “Gaza is burning” after heavy strikes overnight targeted Gaza City, with America's top diplomat signaling an intensive operation targeting the Gaza Strip's biggest city may be underway.

The comments by Defense Minister Israel Katz came as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared to travel to Qatar, where he planned to meet with officials there still incensed over Israel's strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.

While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday , they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel's conduct in the grinding Israel-Hamas war.

Rubio, speaking to journal

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