By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Simon Lewis

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.

Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the militant group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas' last bastion.

Palestinian families streamed out of Gaza City on Sunday, some crammed into pick-up trucks, others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the territory's main urban centre.

Parents carried their children while the elderly hobbled along, an AFP journalist reported.

A man in a wheelchair and another on crutches were among the long line of people heading south under Israeli military orders.

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 attack on the US ally and key mediator in Gaza truce talks has prompted Arab and Muslim leaders to gather for a show of solidarity in Doha, where Qatar's prime minister urged the world to reject "double standards" and hold Israel to account.

The United States is "not happy" about Israeli strikes targeting Hamas in Qatar, but the attack will not change Washington's allied status with Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday as he departed for the region.

Tuesday's air strikes -- the first by Israel against US ally Qatar -- have rocked the region and put huge strain on diplomatic efforts to bring about a truce in war-ravaged Gaza.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.

Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.

(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Ahmed TolbaEditing by Peter Graff)

By Jarrett Renshaw

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United Statesis prepared to impose fresh energy sanctions on Russia, but only if all NATO nations cease purchasing Russian oil and implement similar measures.

“I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations stop buying oil from Russia,” Trump said in a social media post.

(Reuters) -U.S. officials held talks on Saturday with the authorities in Kabul over Americans held in Afghanistan, the Taliban administration’s foreign ministry said.

Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, met with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish prosecutor ordered the detention of 48 suspects, including the mayor of Istanbul's opposition-run Bayrampasa district, as part of a corruption investigation, state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Saturday.

The police carried out early morning raids at 72 locations to seize documents and detain suspects on charges including embezzlement, bribery, and tender rigging, according to TRT Haber.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Paramount said on Friday it condemned a pledge signed earlier this week by more than 4,000 actors, entertainers, and producers, including some Hollywood stars, to not work with Israeli film institutions that they see as being complicit in the abuse of Palestinians by Israel.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Paramount became the first major studio to respond to the pledge released on Monday.

Nadeen Ayoub, the first Palestinian to compete in Miss Universe, will step onto the stage at the height of one of the most harrowing periods in her people's history, determined to show they are more than headlines of war.

"We're more than our struggle and pain," she told AFP in Dubai, where she is preparing to raise the Palestinian flag at the pageant in Thailand in November.

"Right now, our people need a voice and we don't want our identity to be erased," she said, nearly two years into the Israel-Hamas war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.