U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday fully endorsed Israel’s conflict aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the shaky ceasefire into further doubt as talks on its second phase are yet to begin.
Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza and redevelop it under U.S. ownership.
Netanyahu has welcomed the plan, and said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza. Echoing Trump, he said “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas doesn’t release dozens of remaining hostages abducted in the militant group’s attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the 16-month conflict.
The ceasefire’s first phase is set to end in two weeks and the second phase has yet to be negotiated, though talks were meant to begin two weeks ago. In the second phase, Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces
Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News that “phase two is absolutely going to begin” and he had ”very productive” calls Sunday with Netanyahu and officials from Egypt and Qatar, which serve as mediators, about continuing talks this week. He also said hostages to be released include 19 Israeli soldiers and “we believe all of them are alive.”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security Cabinet would meet Monday to discuss the second phase. Netanyahu also instructed negotiators to leave for Cairo on Monday to discuss further implementation of the first phase.
Rubio said Hamas can’t continue as a military or government force.
“As long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible,” he said. “It must be eradicated.”
Hamas reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire took hold last month despite suffering heavy losses.
Rubio is also set to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, political heavyweights in the region.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it carried out an airstrike Sunday on people who approached its forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the strike killed three of its police officers while they secured the entry of aid trucks near Rafah on the Egyptian border.
This week marks 500 days of the conflict. Netanyahu has signaled readiness to resume the fighting after the ceasefire’s current phase, though it could be a death sentence for remaining hostages.
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Netanyahu has offered Hamas a chance to surrender and send its top leaders into exile. Hamas has rejected that scenario and insists on Palestinian rule. Spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told The Associated Press the group accepts a Palestinian unity government or a technocratic committee to run Gaza.
Last week, Hamas threatened to hold up this weekend’s release of hostages because Netanyahu has yet to approve the entry of mobile homes and heavy machinery into Gaza as required by the ceasefire agreement. An Israeli official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations that the issue would be discussed in the coming days, and Israel was coordinating with the United States.
In another sign of closing ranks, Israel’s Defense Ministry said it received a shipment of 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) MK-84 munitions from the United States. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of such bombs last year over concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza.
‘If someone has a better plan … that’s great’
In an interview last week, Rubio indicated that Trump’s Gaza proposal was in part aimed at pressuring Arab states to make their own post-conflict plan that would be acceptable to Israel.
Rubio also appeared to suggest that Arab countries send troops to combat Hamas.
“If someone has a better plan, and we hope they do, if the Arab countries have a better plan, then that’s great,” Rubio said Thursday on the “Clay and Buck Show.”
But “Hamas has guns,” he added. “Someone has to confront those guys. It’s not going to be American soldiers. And if the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it.”
Rubio wasn’t scheduled to meet with Palestinians on his trip to the Middle East.
Arabs have limited options
For Arab leaders, facilitating the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or battling Palestinian militants on behalf of Israel are nightmare scenarios that would bring fierce domestic criticism and potentially destabilize an already volatile region.
Egypt will host an Arab summit on Feb. 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza to be rebuilt without removing its population. Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.
Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of U.S. influence in the region.
Arab and Muslim countries have conditioned any support for post-conflict Gaza on a return to Palestinian governance with a pathway to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast conflict.
Israel has ruled out a Palestinian state and any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power there in 2007.
Rubio to visit regional heavyweights
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians and would be key to any regional response.
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords in which four Arab states — Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan — normalized relations with Israel during Trump’s previous term. Trump hopes to expand the accords to include Saudi Arabia, potentially offering closer U.S. defense ties, but the kingdom has said that it won’t normalize relations with Israel without a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Rubio won’t be visiting Egypt or Jordan, close U.S. allies at peace with Israel that have refused to accept any influx of Palestinian refugees. Trump has suggested that he might slash U.S. aid to them if they don’t comply, which could be devastating for their economies.
Rubio is also skipping Qatar.
—Natalie Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy contributed to this report from Cairo.
