GCC build fails on OSX 10.14.1 with "malformed object (unknown load command 1)"

I am trying to build a library on my mac (OSX Version 10.14.1, Xcode Version 10.1) and it fails giving following error:

Building target: application.a
ar -r "application.a" api.o
ar: creating archive application.a
/opt/local/bin/ranlib: object: application.a(api.o) malformed object (unknown load command 1)
ar: internal ranlib command failed
make[1]: *** [application.a] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

by running 'otool -l lib/api.o' I get the following result:

Mach header
      magic cputype cpusubtype  caps    filetype ncmds sizeofcmds      flags
 0xfeedfacf 16777223          3  0x00           1     5        616 0x00002000
Load command 0
      cmd LC_SEGMENT_64
  cmdsize 472
  segname
   vmaddr 0x0000000000000000
   vmsize 0x0000000000004fb0
  fileoff 648
 filesize 20400
  maxprot 0x00000007
 initprot 0x00000007
   nsects 5
    flags 0x0
Section
  sectname __text
   segname __TEXT
      addr 0x0000000000000000
      size 0x00000000000040ae
    offset 648
     align 2^4 (16)
    reloff 21048
    nreloc 329
     flags 0x80000400
 reserved1 0
 reserved2 0
Section
  sectname __cstring
   segname __TEXT
      addr 0x00000000000040ae
      size 0x00000000000000cb
    offset 17206
     align 2^0 (1)
    reloff 0
    nreloc 0
     flags 0x00000002
 reserved1 0
 reserved2 0
Section
  sectname __const
   segname __TEXT
      addr 0x0000000000004180
      size 0x000000000000003f
    offset 17416
     align 2^4 (16)
    reloff 0
    nreloc 0
     flags 0x00000000
 reserved1 0
 reserved2 0
Section
  sectname __compact_unwind
   segname __LD
      addr 0x00000000000041c0
      size 0x00000000000005e0
    offset 17480
     align 2^3 (8)
    reloff 23680
    nreloc 47
     flags 0x02000000
 reserved1 0
 reserved2 0
Section
  sectname __eh_frame
   segname __TEXT
      addr 0x00000000000047a0
      size 0x0000000000000810
    offset 18984
     align 2^3 (8)
    reloff 0
    nreloc 0
     flags 0x6800000b
 reserved1 0
 reserved2 0
Load command 1
      cmd ?(0x00000032)
  cmdsize 24
Load command 2
      cmd LC_DATA_IN_CODE
  cmdsize 16
  dataoff 24056
 datasize 8
Load command 3
     cmd LC_SYMTAB
 cmdsize 24
  symoff 24064
   nsyms 93
  stroff 25552
 strsize 1668
Load command 4
            cmd LC_DYSYMTAB
        cmdsize 80
      ilocalsym 0
      nlocalsym 15
     iextdefsym 15
     nextdefsym 39
      iundefsym 54
      nundefsym 39
         tocoff 0
           ntoc 0
      modtaboff 0
        nmodtab 0
   extrefsymoff 0
    nextrefsyms 0
 indirectsymoff 0
  nindirectsyms 0
      extreloff 0
        nextrel 0
      locreloff 0
        nlocrel 0

I am guessing load command miss matches between my gcc and osx version, but I can't find 0x00000032 command on mach-o/loader.h. does anyone have a clue about this?

here is the 'otool --version':

llvm-otool(1): Apple Inc. version cctools-895
LLVM (http://llvm.org/):
  LLVM version 4.0.1
  Optimized build.
  Default target: x86_64-apple-darwin18.2.0
  Host CPU: haswell

  Registered Targets:
    aarch64    - AArch64 (little endian)
    aarch64_be - AArch64 (big endian)
    amdgcn     - AMD GCN GPUs
    arm        - ARM
    arm64      - ARM64 (little endian)
    armeb      - ARM (big endian)
    bpf        - BPF (host endian)
    bpfeb      - BPF (big endian)
    bpfel      - BPF (little endian)
    hexagon    - Hexagon
    lanai      - Lanai
    mips       - Mips
    mips64     - Mips64 [experimental]
    mips64el   - Mips64el [experimental]
    mipsel     - Mipsel
    msp430     - MSP430 [experimental]
    nvptx      - NVIDIA PTX 32-bit
    nvptx64    - NVIDIA PTX 64-bit
    ppc32      - PowerPC 32
    ppc64      - PowerPC 64
    ppc64le    - PowerPC 64 LE
    r600       - AMD GPUs HD2XXX-HD6XXX
    riscv32    - 32-bit RISC-V
    riscv64    - 64-bit RISC-V
    sparc      - Sparc
    sparcel    - Sparc LE
    sparcv9    - Sparc V9
    systemz    - SystemZ
    thumb      - Thumb
    thumbeb    - Thumb (big endian)
    x86        - 32-bit X86: Pentium-Pro and above
    x86-64     - 64-bit X86: EM64T and AMD64
    xcore      - XCore

Do you have macports installed? I had the same issue and it seems that macports cctool package install /opt/local/bin/otool which is likely ahead in your path. I suspect that /usr/bin/otool gives the right one ...