United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to arrive in Israel, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as tensions mount in the Middle East over the Israeli attack on Qatar last week.
Rubio’s trip, which begins on Sunday, comes after US President Donald Trump criticised Israel over the unprecedented attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha.
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Before departing for Israel, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was “not happy” about the strike, it was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.
But he added that the US and Israel would discuss its impact on efforts for a truce in Israel’s war on Gaza.
“The president wants this to be finished with. And finished with meaning 48 hostages released all at once. Hamas is no longer a threat, so we can move on to the next phase, which is, how do you rebuild Gaza?” he said.
“How do you provide security? How do you make sure Hamas never comes back again? That’s the president’s priority… And part of what we’re going to have to discuss as part of this visit is how the events of last week with Qatar impact that.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
Israel’s attack on Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US, targeted Hamas leaders who had gathered to discuss a new ceasefire proposal in the war on Gaza put forth by the US. The leadership survived, but six people were killed, including a Qatari security officer.
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US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve US or Israeli interests.
The strike also led to broad condemnation from other Arab states, and derailed ceasefire and captive talks brokered by Qatar.
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, noted that the US and Qatar have expressed a commitment to continue the push for peace.
“However, late on Saturday, Netanyahu said on social media that it’s Israel’s view that the Hamas leadership needs to be driven out of Qatar, because in Israel’s view, Hamas is not committed to peace,” she said.
“So there’s going to be certain discussions about the next steps forward, given that Trump has said he wants to see an end to the war in Gaza,” she said.
For its part, Hamas has repeatedly said it was willing to release all of the captives it took from Israel and cede control of Gaza to an interim Palestinian administration, in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, has called for the expulsion of Gaza’s population and signed an agreement on Thursday to move ahead with a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank that would make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible.
On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in open defiance of Israeli opposition.
Israeli allies, France and the United Kingdom, alongside several other Western nations, are set to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.
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