On Sunday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid a visit to Israel, having stated that the Trump administration was firmly behind its ally in the war with Hamas following a strike in Qatar that attracted widespread criticism of Israel.
The visit follows the condemnation of Israel by President Donald Trump regarding the unprecedented assault on Hamas leaders who were holding a meeting in a high-end area of Doha on Tuesday.
It was the first time Israel had attacked a U.S. ally, Qatar, and had further burdened diplomatic attempts to establish a ceasefire in the Gaza war-devastated state.
Marco Rubio mentioned before leaving the region on Saturday that Trump was “not happy” about the strike, and he added, “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis.”
However, he also admitted that the United States and Israel would have to discuss their effect on the work on truces.
President Trump has also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the attack, which targeted Hamas leaders who were meeting to talk about a new ceasefire plan proposed by the United States.
Netanyahu has justified the operation by arguing on Saturday that the assassination of senior Hamas officials would eliminate the biggest impediment to ending the war. The ceasefire discussion, which remains elusive following months of unsuccessful discussions, came at a time when Israel is escalating its operations in the Gaza Strip.
It has intensified its attacks on taking over Gaza City, the largest city of the territory, in recent days, and has instructed its residents to leave the city and demolished huge buildings, it was claimed that were utilized by Hamas.
And again, thousands of people have been evacuated from the city, but as per the Israeli military and Hamas, there have been many others left.
Last month, the UN had evaluated the population living in the city and surrounding neighborhoods of about one million residents, where it had asserted a famine, which it attributes to Israeli aid controls. According to Bakri Diab, who fled western Gaza City, Israeli strikes were also going on in the south.
The 35-year-old father of four said, “All the occupation has done is force people to crowd into places with no basic services and no safety.” The Civil Defense Agency of Gaza has reported that 32 individuals were killed by the Israeli fire on Saturday.
The limitations of media in Gaza and the inability to reach most areas of the territory of the state imply that AFP cannot personally check the information that was given by the civil defense agency or the Israeli military.
Throughout the war that lasted almost 2 years, Netanyahu and his government have not succumbed to criticism from international organizations, yet the criticism continues to build up this week. The UN General Assembly voted on Friday in open defiance of Israeli opposition to support a revival of the two-state solution.
British and French allies of Israel, and many other Western countries, will also acknowledge Palestinian statehood in a United Nations conference later this month in frustration over Israel’s behavior during the Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.
London and Paris, together with Berlin, also demanded an immediate ceasefire of the offensive by Israel in Gaza City. However, Israel still has the support of the strongest ally and largest weapon supplier, the United States.
Before the visit of Rubio, The Spokesman of the State Department, Tommy Pigott, announced that the Diplomatic Chief would acknowledge, “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions, including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism.” He adds, “He will also emphasize our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home.”
Critics of the Netanyahu administration have attempted to coerce the ministers into ending the war as a condition of releasing the Israeli hostages detained in Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the overall campaign organization, accused the Israeli premier of being the sole obstacle to hostages’ release and charged him with sabotaging ceasefire negotiations several times.
The leading campaign, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Saturday, has charged the Israeli premier with being the sole obstacle to hostages’ release and charged him with sabotaging ceasefire negotiations several times.
Among the 251 individuals who were captured as hostages by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 are still in Gaza, and 25 of them were killed by the Israeli military.
A senior fellow at the Middle East Institute states that Marco Rubio would do little to advance Israel to a ceasefire. Katulis, who served in Middle East policy under the former President Bill Clinton, said, “There is an alarming passivity in actually getting to a ceasefire in Gaza.”
In mentioning the U.S. Ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor, he added, “The administration seems to be listening more to its own base of Huckabees and other evangelical Christians allied with right-wing Israelis.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office revealed that on Sunday, Rubio will visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem together with Netanyahu. The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that claimed the lives of 1,219 people, largely civilians, as an AFP count of official figures records, triggered the war.
In the retaliatory campaign in Gaza, Israel has killed at least 64,803, and this time also predominantly civilians, according to the figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations finds to be credible.
