Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, where the US president made a firm proposal to seize the destroyed Gaza Strip and force Palestinian residents and others We discussed.
The trip was the first region of the region as Secretary of State, and there was uncertainty about whether Israel and Hamas could turn the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza into a permanent purpose for their war. Because it's getting higher.
But Trump's controversial vision to turn Gaza into a US-owned “Middle Eastern Riviera” has overshadowed these high-stake negotiations, with Rubio on his upcoming visit. There should certainly be a pressing effort to make your proposal clearer. Days to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump was “very bold about what the future of Gaza should look like, not the same tired ideas of the past,” the two met personally, and then took place with Netanyahu on Sunday. He stated in a prepared statement. “It may have shocked a lot of people and surprised us, but what can't last is the same cycle where we get caught up in the exact same place over and over again.”
Rubio also spoke about the security threats arising from the new Syrian government and the need to monitor the essential disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon. And he explains Iran is “a common theme in all of these challenges,” and its country is more explained than Trump normally does than he calls “the greatest source of regional instability.” They claimed they were using more aggressive languages to do so.
“All the things behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, everything behind everything that threatens the peace and stability of the millions who call this region home behind everything behind it,” Rubio said.
Netanyahu said he thanked Rubio for “to move forward in America's clear support for Israeli policy in Gaza.” However, Netanyahu's government has yet to present a long-term strategy for Gaza to Israel or the American people.
“I want to assure you that everyone who listens to us, President Trump and I, are fully working together and coordinating between us,” he said on February 4th at the White House. Netanyahu, who met with the president, said:
Trump surprised the world with his plans in Gaza at a press conference with Netanyahu that day.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that he and Rubio discussed Trump's “a bold vision for Gaza, how to work together to ensure that the future will become reality for the future of Gaza.” Ta.
Netanyahu said later Sunday that when Trump presented his vision for Gaza to the world on February 4th in Washington, he “didn't come as a surprise.” “We knew about it and talked about it beforehand,” the Israeli Prime Minister told his cabinet in one comment on the videotape that his office distributed.
Some Israeli officials consider the idea to be unrealistic, and experts say it would be a strict violation of international law.
After Arab officials in the region quickly condemned the proposal, Rubio said he was trying to provide more support to postwar Gaza, as Trump simply “gets a response” and “smoote” other countries. It was suggesting that there was.
But since then, Trump has doubled and on two other occasions he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office, who told Fox News that he intends to move forward with the plan.
The forced expulsion of Palestinians is a cleansing of ethnic groups and a war crime, international law scholars say. Over 47,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military retaliation in Gaza due to a Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people in October 2023. Most of the deaths on both sides were civilians.
Trump said Jordan and Egypt should allow Palestinian residents of Gaza to move to their own country. The idea has long been promoted by Israeli rights, but has been completely rejected by Arab and Palestinian leaders, as well as past US presidents of both parties. Jordanian King Abdullah II publicly rejected Trump's proposal after a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, in which Rubio attended.
In a radio interview Thursday, Rubio said that the Arab proposal for postwar Gaza should address the mammoth challenge of restructuring territory and deploying multinational security forces to combat Hamas' wreckage. .
But that is possible once the war in Gaza is over. This relies on extending the ceasefire agreement, which revolves around hostage-convict interactions. The first phase of the current ceasefire agreement is expected to end in March.
Neither Rubio nor Netanyahu mentioned the circumstances of negotiations for the next phase of the deal on Sunday in their public remarks. Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that he will talk about phase two of his ceasefire contract this week.
Later on Sunday, Netanyahu's office said Israeli leaders spoke with Witkov and informed him that on Monday Israeli security ministers would be convened to discuss the second phase of the agreement.
Indirect negotiations for the permanent halt of hostage and the release of all remaining living hostages from Hamas prisoners should have begun two weeks ago and intended to be finalized by the end of this week. It was. A spokesman for Netanyahu denied that such consultations were ongoing.
Both Israel and Hamas claim that their opponents are violating the conditions of the ceasefire. On Sunday, Hamas showed lack of commitment to a ceasefire contract by violating Israel, preventing trailer entry into Gaza, and by delaying consultations on the next stage of the contract. He accused him of being there.
Israeli officials have confirmed housing trailers will remain in Gaza and said the issue will be discussed over the weekend in the coming days. Without further ado, the reasons for the delay.
Meanwhile, Trump appears to have given Netanyahu some room to change the terms of the deal and resume the fight in Gaza. Decisions by the Israeli government.
Netanyahu and Rubio spoke on Sunday about the need to eliminate Hamas' military and governing capabilities. The Israeli Department of Defense has announced that shipments of the 2,000-pound bomb that had been postponed by the Biden administration have arrived in Israel overnight. The Israeli forces dropped them in Gaza, but US military officials said such bombs were not suitable for urban combat.
Rubio's arrival in Israel on Saturday night comes hours after Hamas released three Israeli hostages, including double American citizens, in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners. On Sunday, Rubio said Hamas “still holds 73 hostages, including Edan Alexander from New Jersey, and the bodies of four Americans killed in Gaza.” A written statement has been issued. They all have to go home now. ”
Israel and the US government have been putting pressure on Hamas for days to release hostages, hoping to maintain the ceasefire they first reached. Biden and Trump's aides rushed in mid-January. Last Monday, Trump warned that Israel could cancel its contract and that if Hamas didn't release all hostages by Saturday, “all hell would break out.”
Rubio is on his second trip as Secretary of State. He was expected to land in Israel after a stop at a security conference in Munich and fly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Rubio had previously planned to stop by Qatar, but that was not a announced schedule.
In Saudi Arabia, Rubio and two other Trump aides plan to meet with Russian officials to end the Russian war in Ukraine.
Michael Crowley Contributed report from Washington Patrick Kingsley I contributed a report from Jerusalem.
