By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Simon Lewis

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel destroyed a score of buildings in Gaza City, killing at least 16 Palestinians, local health authorities said on Monday, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the war with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Rubio's visit coincided with an emergency summit in Qatar of Arab and Islamic states, some of them close U.S. allies, convened in response to Israel's attack last week on leaders of Hamas who reside in the Gulf state.

Leaders from Arab and Muslim countries will gather for an emergency summit in Doha on Monday, a week after Israel's unprecedented strike on Hamas in Qatar prompted widespread anger.

The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit called by Qatar seeks to pile pressure on Israel, which has been facing mounting calls to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hamas says top officials survived last week's air strike in Doha that killed six people and triggered a wave of criticism, including from US President Donald Trump.

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court on Monday adjourned to October a case on whether to annul the 2023 congress of the country's main opposition CHP party over irregularities and oust its leader Ozgur Ozel, in a long-running crackdown that has created a political crisis.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

(Reuters) -Israel's bombing of Qatar last week risks a new breach with Arab states who are meeting on Monday, opening another chapter in a fractious history since Israel's creation in 1948 marked by repeated wars and periods of frosty peace.

Here is how the relationships have played out for some major Arab countries, which have also had difficult ties with Palestinian leaders over the years, complicating efforts to stabilise the Middle East.

EGYPT

A flotilla bound for Gaza carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists set sail Monday from Tunisia after repeated delays, aiming to break Israel's blockade and deliver aid to the Palestinian territory.

"The fleet that departed Barcelona is already at sea, and the Tunisian boats are now setting sail in stages," the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.

"They will converge on the water and continue together to meet the Italian and Greek ships," it added.

By Alvise Armellini

LAMPEDUSA, Italy (Reuters) -It took more than a year, several thousand dollars, ingenuity, setbacks and a jet ski: this is how Muhammad Abu Dakha, a 31-year-old Palestinian, managed to escape from Gaza to reach Europe.

He documented his story through videos, photographs and audio files, which he shared with Reuters. Reuters also interviewed him and his travel companions upon their arrival in Italy, and their relatives in the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched its long-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, targeting Hamas militants and prompting widespread international alarm, with the UN condemning it as "carnage".

A United Nations commission accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

The Israeli military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City overnight as its troops moved deeper into the territory's largest urban hub.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's main opposition party, already battered by an unprecedented legal crackdown, could see its leader ousted by a court on Monday in what some see as a test of the country's shaky balance between democracy and autocracy.

An Ankara court is set to decide whether to annul the party's 2023 congress over alleged procedural irregularities - a move that would strip its chairman, Ozgur Ozel, of his title and further erode the opposition's leadership and authority.

TUNIS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed Sifi Ghrieb as the country’s new prime minister and Mourad Adjal as minister of energy and renewable energy in a cabinet reshuffle, a presidential statement said on Sunday.

Ghrieb, who was the industry minister, had been serving as acting prime minister since Tebboune ended the tenure of Nadir Larbaoui last month.

Adjal was the CEO of Algeria's state power firm Sonelgaz.

The ministers of finance, trade and foreign affairs remained in their positions, the presidency said.

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.