Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Jerusalem on Sunday, the place they mentioned President Trump’s insistent proposals for america to grab the devastated Gaza Strip and pressure out its Palestinian residents, amongst different issues.
The journey is Mr. Rubio’s first to the region as secretary of state, and comes as uncertainty is rising over whether or not Israel and Hamas can or are prepared to show a tenuous cease-fire in Gaza right into a everlasting finish to their battle.
However Mr. Trump’s controversial imaginative and prescient for reworking Gaza into an American-owned “Riviera of the Center East” has overshadowed these high-stakes negotiations, and Mr. Rubio is bound to be pressed for extra readability concerning the proposal throughout his visits within the coming days to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Trump has “been very daring about what the long run for Gaza ought to be, not the identical drained concepts of the previous,” Mr. Rubio stated in ready remarks delivered alongside Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday after the 2 met privately. “It might have shocked and stunned many, however what can not proceed is similar cycle the place we repeat over and over and wind up in the very same place.”
Mr. Rubio additionally talked about the necessity to look ahead to any safety threats arising from the brand new authorities in Syria, and the crucial to disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon. And he asserted Iran is the “frequent theme in all of those challenges,” utilizing extra aggressive language to explain that nation than Mr. Trump sometimes does in calling it “the only best supply of instability within the area.”
“Behind each terrorist group, behind each act of violence, behind each destabilizing exercise, behind the whole lot that threatens peace and stability for the tens of millions of people that name this area house, is Iran,” Mr. Rubio stated.
Mr. Netanyahu stated he had thanked Mr. Rubio for “America’s unequivocal backing for Israel’s coverage in Gaza in shifting ahead.” Nevertheless, Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities has but to current a long-term technique for Gaza to the Israeli or American public.
“I wish to guarantee everybody who’s now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us,” stated Mr. Netanyahu, who met with the president within the White Home on Feb. 4.
Mr. Trump stunned the world along with his Gaza plan throughout a information convention that day with Mr. Netanyahu, who has since referred to as it “a revolutionary, artistic strategy” that ought to be studied. Mr. Netanyahu stated on Sunday that he and Mr. Rubio had mentioned Mr. Trump’s “daring imaginative and prescient for Gaza, for Gaza’s future — how we are able to work collectively to make sure that that future turns into a actuality.” Some Israeli officers contemplate the concept impractical, and consultants say it might be a extreme violation of international law.
After Arab officers within the area instantly denounced the proposal, Mr. Rubio had urged that Mr. Trump was merely making an attempt to “get a response” and “stir” different nations into offering extra help for postwar Gaza.
Since then, nevertheless, Mr. Trump has doubled down, telling reporters within the Oval Workplace on two different events and in a Fox Information interview that he intends to maneuver ahead with the plan. On Friday, Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the West Financial institution because the president of the Palestinian Authority, stated the Palestinian folks “should stay” on their land.
The compelled expulsion of Palestinians could be ethnic cleaning and a battle crime, worldwide regulation students say. Greater than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli navy retaliation in Gaza for a Hamas-led assault in October 2023 that killed 1,200 folks. Many of the useless on each side have been civilians.
Mr. Trump has stated Jordan and Egypt ought to permit the Palestinian residents of Gaza to maneuver to their nations. The concept has lengthy been promoted by the Israeli proper however flatly rejected by Arab and Palestinian leaders in addition to previous U.S. presidents of each events. King Abdullah II of Jordan publicly rejected Mr. Trump’s proposal after a Wednesday assembly on the White Home that was additionally attended by Mr. Rubio.
Mr. Rubio stated in a radio interview on Thursday that any Arab proposal for a postwar Gaza ought to deal with the mammoth process of reconstructing the territory and deploying a multinational safety pressure to combat remnants of Hamas.
However that might solely be attainable as soon as the battle in Gaza involves an finish — which relies on extending a cease-fire settlement that revolves round hostage and prisoner exchanges. The primary part of the present cease-fire settlement is about to finish in March.
Neither Mr. Rubio nor Mr. Netanyahu made any reference of their public remarks on Sunday to the standing of negotiations for the subsequent part of the deal. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East, stated in an interview with Fox Information on Sunday that talks on part two of the cease-fire deal would happen this coming week.
Oblique negotiations for a everlasting cessation of hostilities and the discharge of all remaining residing hostages from Hamas captivity have been purported to have begun two weeks in the past and have been meant to be finalized by the tip of the approaching week. Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman has denied that any such talks are underway.
Israel and Hamas have each asserted that the opposite get together has violated the phrases of the cease-fire. On Sunday, Hamas accused Israel of violating and displaying an absence of dedication to the cease-fire deal by stopping the entry of trailers into Gaza to accommodate displaced Palestinians and delaying talks for the subsequent part of the settlement.
Israeli officers acknowledged holding up the entry of housing trailers for Palestinians into Gaza, saying over the weekend that the difficulty could be mentioned within the coming days and with out elaborating on causes for the delay.
Mr. Trump, in the meantime, seems to have given Mr. Netanyahu some leeway for altering the phrases of the deal or for resuming combating in Gaza, ought to he select to take action, saying in a social media post on Saturday that america would again any resolution made by the Israeli authorities.
Each Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Rubio spoke on Sunday of the necessity to remove Hamas’s navy and governing capabilities. Israel’s Ministry of Protection introduced {that a} cargo of 2000-pound bombs, which had been held up by the Biden administration, had arrived in Israel in a single day. U.S. navy officers have stated that such bombs are unsuitable for city fight, although the Israeli navy has dropped them in Gaza.
Mr. Rubio’s arrival in Israel on Saturday night time got here hours after Hamas launched three Israeli hostages, together with a twin American citizen, in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli and American governments had been pressuring Hamas for days to launch the hostages in hopes of sustaining the cease-fire first reached with the prodding of Biden and Trump aides in mid-January. Mr. Trump warned final Monday that Israel might cancel the settlement and that “all hell goes to interrupt out” if Hamas didn’t launch all hostages by Saturday.
Mr. Rubio is on his second journey as secretary of state. He landed in Israel after a cease on the Munich Safety Convention, and was anticipated to fly onward to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Rubio had deliberate to cease in Qatar earlier, however that was not on the introduced schedule.
In Saudi Arabia, Mr. Rubio and two different high Trump aides plan to meet with Russian officers to debate ending Russia’s battle in Ukraine.
Michael Crowley contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
