JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump believes the ‘same tired ideas’ cannot be repeated in Gaza, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday in Jerusalem, during his first visit to the Middle East in the role.
“The president’s also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be, not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision… what cannot continue is the same cycle,” Rubio said referring to Trump’s plan for US control of the Palestinian territory and to displace its population.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday fully endorsed Israel’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the future of the shaky ceasefire into further doubt.
Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it under U.S. ownership. Netanyahu has welcomed the plan, and said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza’s future. Echoing Trump, he said “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas does not release dozens of remaining hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Their remarks came just two weeks before the first phase of the ceasefire is set to end. The second phase, in which Hamas is to release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, has yet to be negotiated.
Rubio said Hamas “cannot 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,” Rubio said. “It must be eradicated.”
Such language could complicate efforts to continue talks with Hamas, which, despite suffering heavy losses in the war, remains intact and in control of Gaza.
The Israeli military meanwhile said it carried out an airstrike early Sunday on people who approached its forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the strike killed three of its policemen while they were securing the entry of aid trucks near Rafah, on the Egyptian border.
Hamas said that attack was a “serious violation” of the ceasefire and accused Netanyahu of trying to sabotage the deal. Resuming the war could be a death sentence for the remaining hostages and may not succeed in annihilating Hamas, which survived a 15-month Israeli onslaught and quickly reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire took hold last month.
Earlier speaking on Sunday, Trump repeated his pledge to take control of the Gaza Strip. “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back. There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished,” he told reporters onboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Super Bowl.
