Summary
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Jerusalem with Netanyahu.
- Rubio expressed full US support for Israel against Hamas.
- Priorities: liberation of Israeli hostages and Hamas destruction.
- Disapproval of Doha Israeli strike complicating ceasefire efforts.
In his public statements beside Netanyahu, Rubio did not bring up the prospect of a ceasefire or reiterate his previous condemnation of Israel for launching an airstrike last week on Hamas leaders in Doha, the capital of Qatar, another close friend of the United States.
As the Trump administration looks to minimize the harm to US relations in the Gulf caused by the Israeli strike last Tuesday, the state department said Rubio would stop in Doha on Tuesday on his route to London.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, stated during an emergency Arab and Islamic meeting in Doha that Israel's goal in carrying out the strike was to sabotage ceasefire negotiations.
“Whoever works diligently and systematically to assassinate the party with whom he is negotiating, intends to thwart the negotiations,”
he told fellow leaders.
In accordance with Israel's desire for a one-step agreement to free all 20 hostages who are still known to be alive and the bodies of another 28 who are supposed to be dead, the Hamas leaders had been in Doha to negotiate a ceasefire proposal made by Donald Trump. A gradual ceasefire deal similar to the one proposed by US ambassador Steve Witkoff was approved by Hamas in August.
Other than stating that the US will "continue to explore and be dedicated to" a peaceful resolution that he claimed depended on the eradication of Hamas, Rubio made no mention of potential ceasefire parameters in Jerusalem.
“At the end of the day, no matter what has happened or happens, the objective remains the same, and that is all 48 of those hostages, both living and deceased, need to be home. They need to be returned,”
he said.
“Hamas needs to cease to exist as an armed element that can threaten the peace and security of the region. And the people of Gaza deserve a better future. But that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated.”
Rubio warned that the intended recognition of Palestine by several US allies, including the UK, France, Canada, Belgium and Australia, would make peace less likely.
“It actually makes it harder to negotiate … because it emboldens these groups,”
he said, referring to Hamas and other Palestinian militants. He added that the Trump administration had warned states preparing to recognise Palestine “there will be an Israeli counter reaction to those moves” – in what may have been a reference to a possible Israeli move to annex occupied areas of the West Bank.
Regarding Israel's impending ground invasion of Gaza City, Rubio remained silent. Prior to the attack, the Israel Defense Forces had started evacuating the city's residents and demolishing apartment complexes, a move that drew worldwide censure.
The majority of the estimated million Palestinians taking refuge in the urban sprawl have chosen to remain, either because they are unable to relocate or because they have nowhere else to go, but tens of thousands have departed Gaza City for the south. According to humanitarian organizations, displaced persons can no longer find a secure or acceptable location to live in Gaza.
Ten of its buildings, including two clinics and seven schools, have been struck by Israeli strikes in the last four days, according to the UN relief organization Unrwa.
Netanyahu defended Israel’s tactics.
“We’re not bringing down those towers to intimidate people. Those towers are serving as Hamas strongholds,”
he said.
“But what we’re doing is we’re telling the population … we ask you to leave. And what is Hamas doing? They’re asking them to stay, because they want to use them as human shields.”
The UN rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, said the aim of the Gaza City offensive was to make it uninhabitable.
“This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable,”
Albanese said on Monday.
The Israeli mission to the UN rejected her remarks, blaming Hamas for the destruction.
“According to her, Hamas doesn’t embed itself in civilian infrastructure, doesn’t cynically use civilians as human shields, and generally doesn’t really exist,”
it said.
The IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, is widely reported to have deep misgivings about the Gaza City offensive, arguing it would not destroy Hamas and would be costly in the lives of Israeli soldiers and hostages. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the commander told a Knesset committee on Friday that he had been left in the dark about the objectives.
“The prime minister hasn’t told us what the next stage is. We don’t know what to prepare for. If they want military rule, then they should say military rule,”
Zamir is reported to have told the committee. According to the same report, he described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US-Israeli backed scheme to distribute food instead of the UN, as a “failure” and questioned why money was being spent on expanding it.
In an open letter to Zamir on Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked to meet him to put its case against the Gaza City offensive.
“We demand that the fate of our loved ones not be abandoned!”
the forum said in a social media post.
“The IDF must present a clear policy to the public and families: no more living hostages murdered in captivity as a result of military pressure, and no more bodies disappearing under rubble, losing any chance to locate them and return them for proper burial.”
The emir of Qatar charged Israel with disregarding its hostages in the Gaza Strip during the Doha meeting. Instead, he claimed, its goal was to "make sure Gaza is no longer livable."
The Israeli missile strike killed a Qatari security officer and advisers to Hamas leadership. According to Israeli claims, the leaders who were allegedly the target were at the time in another building.
Netanyahu said that his government took "full responsibility" for the raid in Qatar, which was a "wholly independent decision by Israel." He maintained that the mission had succeeded despite refusing to provide specifics about the losses.
“It didn’t fail because it had one central message … and that is, you can hide, you can run, but we’ll get you,”
he said.
According to official estimates, Israel has murdered around 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, but thousands more are thought to be buried beneath the debris.
According to official estimates, Israel has murdered around 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, but thousands more are thought to be buried beneath the debris. Even internal IDF figures indicate that civilians have made up the vast majority of the victims.
The international court of justice is considering claims that Netanyahu's government is committing genocide, and the international criminal court has issued an arrest order for Netanyahu for war crimes. Israel disputes the accusation, saying it was acting in self-defense following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis, more than two-thirds of them civilians.
How will Rubio’s visit affect US mediation efforts in Gaza?
Rubio’s open and public endorsement of Israel’s military goals including its goal of destroying Hamas does solidify the strong U.S.-Israeli relationship, but also shows less openness to Hamas or negotiating an immediate ceasefire.
His visit signals a clear indication of unwavering U.S. support of Israel’s right to defend itself, emphasizing U.S. focus on the release of hostages, which can have longer-term implications for the effort to restore a relationship with Hamas.
Rubio stressed that the United States would continue to urge Qatar in its role as a constructive mediator, signifying that U.S. support for mediation efforts remains wide open even in heightened tensions and violence.