U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he shall be in search of solutions from Israeli officers about how they see the way in which ahead in Gaza following Israel’s assault on Hamas operatives in Qatar that has upended efforts to dealer an finish to the battle.
Rubio informed reporters on Saturday earlier than leaving for Israel that President Donald Trump remained sad with the Israeli strike however that it might not shake U.S. help for Israel.
“We’re going to talk about what the future holds, and I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward,” Rubio mentioned. “Obviously we’re not happy about it. The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next.”
Each Rubio and Trump met on Friday with Qatar’s prime minister to debate the fallout from the Israeli operation, in an illustration of how the Trump administration is attempting to steadiness relations between key Center East allies days after Israel focused Hamas leaders in a strike on Doha.
The assault has drawn widespread worldwide condemnation and seems to have ended makes an attempt to safe an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the discharge of hostages forward of the upcoming U.N. Normal Meeting session at which the Gaza battle is predicted to be a main focus.
Trump “wants Hamas defeated, he wants the war to end, he wants all 48 hostages home, including those that are deceased, and he wants it all at once,” he mentioned. “And we’ll have to discuss about how the events last week had an impact on the ability to achieve that in short order.”
Rubio can have conferences in Jerusalem on Sunday and Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.
Regardless of tensions between Trump and Netanyahu over the strike, Rubio shall be in Israel for the two-day go to. It’s a present of help for the more and more remoted nation earlier than the United Nations holds probably contentious debate on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu opposes.
On Friday, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance met Qatari Prime Ministers Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on the White Home. Later Friday, Trump and particular envoy Steve Witkoff had dinner with the sheikh in New York, the place Trump went to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults.
The Trump administration is strolling a fragile line between two main allies after Israel took its struggle with Hamas to the Qatari capital, the place leaders of the militant group had gathered to contemplate a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire within the almost two-year-old battle in Gaza. Qatar is a key mediator, and whereas its leaders have vowed to press ahead, the following steps are unsure for a long-sought deal to halt the preventing and launch hostages taken from Israel.
Condemning the strike however supporting Israel
Israel’s assault Tuesday additionally has ruptured Trump’s hopes to safe a wider Center East peace deal, with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar all uniting in anger.
Trump himself has distanced himself from the strike, saying it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals” and has promised Qatar that it might not be repeated. The U.S. additionally joined a U.N. Safety Council assertion condemning the strike with out mentioning Israel by identify.
Whereas in Israel, Rubio plans to go to the Metropolis of David, a preferred archaeological web site and vacationer vacation spot constructed by Israel within the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in contested east Jerusalem.
It accommodates a few of the oldest stays of the three,000-year-old metropolis. However critics accuse the location’s operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda on the expense of Palestinian residents.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, house to town’s most vital non secular websites, within the 1967 Mideast battle and annexed the realm.
Israel claims your complete metropolis as its everlasting, undivided capital whereas the Palestinians declare east Jerusalem because the capital of a future state, together with the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip. The competing claims lie on the coronary heart of the Israeli-Palestinian battle and ceaselessly boil over into violence.
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