U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from Feb. 15-18, Foggy Bottom confirmed on Wednesday.
“Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials will promote U.S. interests in advancing regional cooperation, stability and peace,” State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a press statement.
“The trip will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies,” the statement continued.
Before his first Middle Eastern trip since his Senate confirmation on Jan. 20, the American diplomat will travel to Germany on Thursday to attend the annual Munich Security Conference and the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, both held in the Bavarian city.
His visit follows President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans out of the Gaza Strip, after which the coastal area would be turned over to U.S. control for rebuilding. It also comes amid Israel’s tenuous truce with the Hamas terrorist group and the release of hostages held in the Strip.
The truce is “tenuous” because Hamas is a terrorist organization responsible for violence against civilians, Rubio told journalist Chris Cuomo by phone on NewsNation on Tuesday.
Rubio noted that Hamas does not operate according to international law, rendering the ceasefire uncertain.
“We’ll see what happens on Saturday. I think the President [Trump]’s been very clear he wants to see those hostages come—be released. He’s tired of this drip, drip every week. There’s some Americans there as well. He wants to see them released, and he’s made very clear that if that’s not the case on Saturday, then then all bets are off. And it’s not going to be good for Hamas,” the secretary of state said.
“But let’s hope that that resolves itself. I don’t think anyone wants to see a resumption of hostilities. But by the same token, we can’t have Hamas deciding what parts of the deal they’re going to live up to and what parts they’re not,” Rubio said.
Rubio on Monday described Hamas as an “evil” and “monstrous” organization that must be wiped out.
During an interview on talk radio channel SiriusXM Patriot, he condemned the terrorist group for its treatment of hostages.
“This is an evil organization. Hamas is evil. It’s pure evil. These are monsters. These are savages. That’s a group that needs to be eradicated,” he said.
By noon on Saturday
Unless Hamas returns Israeli hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will expire and the Israel Defense Forces will resume fighting until total victory over Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu’s statement announcing the ultimatum followed remarks by Trump on Monday, who also named Saturday, Feb. 15, at noon as the time after which “all hell will break loose” unless Hamas frees all hostages.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military is preparing to possibly resume fighting in Gaza following Hamas’s announcement that it would delay releasing hostages.
Arab countries have rejected the Trump proposal.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, on Wednesday rejected Trump’s plan, claiming that Palestinians in Judea and Samaria would also eventually be moved.
“The focus today is on Gaza and tomorrow it will shift to the West Bank with the objective of emptying Palestine of its historical inhabitants,” Aboul Gheit said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
It’s unacceptable for the Arab world, which has fought this idea for 100 years,” he added.
“After resisting this for 100 years, we Arabs are not about to capitulate in any way now, because we have not suffered a political, military or cultural defeat,” Aboul Gheit continued.
Trump hosted Jordanian King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, in an attempt to persuade regional leaders to accept his plan to relocate Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.
Abdullah announced a proposal for the kingdom to accept 2,000 children in Gaza grappling with cancer and other severe illnesses for treatment but did not express agreement with Trump’s plan for the United States to “own” the enclave and relocate its population to other countries.
The king said he and other Arab leaders would meet in Saudi Arabia soon to discuss an Egyptian counter-proposal to the Trump resettlement and redevelopment idea.
“We will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we can work with the president and with the United States,” Abdullah said. “Let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president, and not get ahead of ourselves.”