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 drive out its Palestinian residents, amongst different issues.
The journey is Mr. Rubio’s first to the area 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 warfare.
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 certain 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 longer term for Gaza needs 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 could have shocked and shocked 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 that Iran is the “widespread theme in all of those challenges,” utilizing extra aggressive language to explain that nation than Mr. Trump usually 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 all the pieces that threatens peace and stability for the hundreds of thousands of people that name this area dwelling, 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 transferring ahead.” Nonetheless, 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 shocked 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 method” that needs 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.”
Mr. Netanyahu stated later Sunday that “it didn’t come as a shock” when Mr. Trump offered his imaginative and prescient for Gaza to the world on Feb. 4 in Washington. “We knew about it, and we spoke about it beforehand,” the Israeli prime minister informed his cupboard in videotaped remarks distributed by his workplace.
Some Israeli officers take into account the thought impractical, and consultants say it could be a extreme violation of worldwide legislation.
After Arab officers within the area instantly denounced the proposal, Mr. Rubio had instructed that Mr. Trump was merely attempting 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 individuals “should stay” on their land.
The pressured expulsion of Palestinians could be ethnic cleaning and a warfare crime, worldwide legislation 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 individuals. A lot 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 Mr. Rubio additionally attended.
Mr. Rubio stated in a radio interview on Thursday that any Arab proposal for a postwar Gaza ought to deal with the mammoth job of reconstructing the territory and deploying a multinational safety drive to combat remnants of Hamas.
However that will be doable solely as soon as the warfare in Gaza involves an finish — which depends on extending a cease-fire settlement that revolves round hostage and prisoner exchanges. The primary section 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 section 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 section two of the cease-fire deal would happen this week.
Later Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace stated that the Israeli chief had spoken with Mr. Witkoff and knowledgeable him that he would convene Israel’s safety cupboard on Monday to debate the second section of the settlement.
Oblique negotiations for a everlasting cessation of hostilities and the discharge of all remaining residing hostages from Hamas captivity had been alleged to have begun two weeks in the past and had 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 occasion has violated the phrases of the cease-fire. On Sunday, Hamas accused Israel of violating and displaying a scarcity 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 section of the settlement.
Israeli officers acknowledged holding up the entry of housing trailer into Gaza, saying over the weekend that the problem could be mentioned within the coming days, 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 preventing in Gaza, ought to he select to take action, saying in a social media submit 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 eradicate 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 trade for 369 Palestinian prisoners. On Sunday, Mr. Rubio launched a written assertion saying that Hamas “nonetheless holds 73 hostages together with New Jersey native Edan Alexander and the stays of 4 People murdered in Gaza. They have to ALL come dwelling NOW.”
The Israeli and American governments had been pressuring Hamas for days to launch the hostages in hopes of sustaining the cease-fire first reached in mid-January with the prodding of Biden and Trump aides. Mr. Trump warned final Monday that Israel may 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 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 prime Trump aides plan to fulfill with Russian officers to debate ending Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
Michael Crowley contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
