Rubio at ceasefire HQ: Israel has met its commitments, Hamas must disarm, deceased hostages will ‘be released’ Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday
US Secretary of State Rubio reiterates the White House’s opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank, saying a recent Knesset vote to advance annexation legislation could threaten Washington’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, and adding that he doesn’t expect the bills to pass.
“Suffice it to say, we don’t think it’s going to happen,” he says. He echoes comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the vote a “provocation” from the opposition.
Rubio said he understood that the vote was due to “elements that tried to use it to embarrass Netanyahu” during US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel this week.
“More importantly, it’s not, from a legislative standpoint, structured in a way that could happen,” Rubio says. “But it would also threaten this whole process.”
“Everyone has to understand if something like that [annexation] were to happen right now, a lot of the countries that are involved in working on this probably aren’t going to want to be involved in this anymore,” Rubio says, referring to the ceasefire. It’s a threat to the peace process, and everybody knows it.”
He continues, “But I’m not getting to the middle of Israeli politics. We’re focused on peace and security.”
Addressing the prospects of additional normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries in the wake of the ceasefire, Rubio says broader regional normalization “could be a byproduct of achieving some of this.”
Referring to the normalization deals in 2020 between Israel and several Arab countries, he adds, “We’d like to have as many members of the Abraham Accords as possible.”
“I think what we’re doing here could help create the momentum for that to occur,” he says.
He does not say which countries in particular are poised to normalize relations with Israel.
“I’m not going to mention the countries’ names because it’s up to them to announce it,” he adds. “There are some countries you could probably add right now if we wanted to, but we want to do a big thing about it, and so we’re working on it.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the involvement of Turkey and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza under the US-backed ceasefire plan remains undecided, and that Israel must be “comfortable” with the countries stationing troops in the territory.
Israel’s government has consistently rejected the idea of the PA playing a role in governing a postwar Gaza, while Israel’s relations with Turkey have collapsed during the war.
Asked in a press conference at the US Civil-Military Coordination Center whether Turkish troops would be deployed in the International Stabilization Force to be set up in the Strip, Rubio says, “We haven’t formed that force yet, so there’s still work going on.”
“Obviously, as you put together this force, it’ll have to be countries that Israel is comfortable with as well,” he continues, saying that “there are a lot of countries that are expressing interest right now,” adding he couldn’t specify them.
Asked about the PA’s role in the postwar governance of the Strip, Rubio says, “We’ve expressed our concerns about the Palestinian Authority as it stands today, and certainly the need for reform as far as what role it’s going to play in the future of Gaza. That’s yet to be determined, if any role at all. We don’t know.”
Gaza’s future governance “is going to be something that has to be worked on collectively with Israel, with partner nation states. For it to work, everyone has to agree to it,” he says.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, “is not going to play any role” in delivering aid in Gaza under the US-backed ceasefire plan, calling the agency “a subsidiary of Hamas.”
Asked if the group, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, will assist in providing humanitarian aid to the Strip under the plan, Rubio responds: “UNWRA is not going to play any role in it.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declines to say that Israel would need US “permission” to renew fighting against Hamas in Gaza if the group continues to pose a threat, while emphasizing that the US ceasefire plan has broad regional support and is “the best” and “only plan.”
Asked at a press conference at the US-Israel ceasefire coordination center if Israel could resume fighting Hamas independently the group rearms or regroups, Rubio says that, “I don’t think this has to do anything with permission or anything of that nature. This has to do with basically, we’re all committed to making this plan work. There is no plan B. This is the best plan. It’s the only plan. It’s one that we think can succeed. It’s one that we believe is on the way to success,” he says.
In response to another question on Hamas disarmament, Rubio stresses that “If Hamas refuses to demilitarize, it’ll be a violation of the agreement, and that’ll have to be enforced. I’m not going to get into the mechanisms by which it is going to be enforced, but it’ll have to be enforced.”
He adds, “This is a deal, and a deal requires conditions to be met. Israel has met their commitments. They’re standing at the yellow line, and that is contingent upon the demilitarization.”
Rubio notes that Hamas disarmament and the demilitarization of Gaza under the second phase of the deal “is a long-term project,” but adds, “We want to help create the conditions here so that people in Gaza don’t have to be terrorized by Hamas and in fact, have lives, jobs, businesses, and a better future.”
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