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Agence France-Presse

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday backed Israel’s new offensive on Gaza City and its goal of eradicating Hamas, casting doubt on whether diplomacy would work to end nearly two years of war.
Rubio and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared united on a visit to Jerusalem, despite US President Donald Trump chiding Israel a week earlier for carrying out air strikes on Hamas leaders in US partner Qatar.
“The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,” Rubio told reporters at a joint press conference with Netanyahu.
“You can count on our unwavering support,” he said.
Rubio also took a dim view of the Qatari-brokered negotiations for a ceasefire, despite Trump last month predicting an end to the war within weeks.
He called Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, “barbaric animals”.
“As much as we may wish that there be a sort of a peaceful, diplomatic way to end it, and we’ll continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we also have to be prepared for the possibility that that’s not going to happen,” Rubio said.
Rubio will travel to Doha on Tuesday, the State Department said, to “reaffirm America’s full support” for the Gulf state’s sovereignty – words he did not use in front of Netanyahu.
Trump told reporters in Washington that Netanyahu “won’t be hitting in Qatar” again.
Qatar is home to the largest US airbase in the region and has assiduously courted Trump, including with a gift of a luxury plane.


Israel has launched a major new military campaign aimed at seizing Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, where the United Nations determined last month that a million people were facing famine – a finding rejected by Israel.
Israeli strikes killed another 49 people on Monday, many of them in Gaza City, the civil defence agency reported.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean Agence France-Presse is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
Netanyahu said Rubio’s visit was a “clear message” the United States stood with Israel, and called Trump “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had”.
Rubio’s visit comes a week before France will lead a United Nations summit in which a number of US allies, angered by what they see as Israeli intransigence, plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
Rubio called statehood recognition, which is fervently opposed by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, “largely symbolic” and alleged that it “emboldened” Hamas to take a hard line.
“It’s actually hurting the cause they think they’re furthering,” Rubio said.
Netanyahu warned that Israel may take unspecified “unilateral steps” in response to recognition of a Palestinian state.

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have called for annexation of the West Bank to preclude a state, triggering protests by the United Arab Emirates, which took the landmark step of recognising Israel five years ago on Monday.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed more than 64,900 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Rubio held private meetings with hostages’ families, who have campaigned hard for their release.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
In a highly symbolic step, Rubio late on Monday attended the inauguration of a tunnel for religious tourists that goes underneath the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan to the holy sites.
Fakhri Abu Diab, 63, a community spokesman in Silwan, said Rubio should instead come to see homes, such as his own, that have been demolished by Israel in what Palestinians charge is a targeted campaign to erase them.
“Instead of siding with international law, the United States is going the way of extremists and the far-right and ignoring our history,” he said.
The inauguration was closed to the media, but Rubio, a devout Catholic, wrote on social media that the so-called Pilgrimage Road reflected an “enduring cultural and historical bond between the United States and Israel” and the “Judeo-Christian values that inspired America’s founding fathers”.
Rubio also began his visit on Sunday in the Old City by joining Netanyahu at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, and calling Jerusalem the “eternal capital” of Israel.
Until Trump’s first term, US leaders had shied away from such overt statements backing Israeli sovereignty over contested Jerusalem, which is also holy to Muslims and Christians.


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Israel

On visit to Jerusalem, Rubio backs Israel in its goal to eradicate Hamas

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (centre) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday. On Monday, Rubio visited the contentious City of David archeological park. Photo: Kyodo

Rubio and Netanyahu visit the Western Wall Tunnels in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo: Reuters

Netanyahu says US alliance ‘has never been stronger’ as Marco Rubio visits Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they visit the Western Wall Tunnels, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israel on Sunday. Photo: Pool Photo via AP

People run as smoke from an explosion erupts in one of the buildings of the Islamic University of Gaza in Gaza City on Sunday. Photo: AFP

US’ Marco Rubio promises ‘unwavering support’ for Israel in Gaza goals

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) briefs US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio during their visit to the Western Wall Tunnels, underneath the Jewish holy site, in the old city of Jerusalem on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during their meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on Monday. Photo: EPA

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) visits the Western Wall together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Photo: dpa

An ‘Arab Nato’? Israel’s air strikes on Qatar give Arab militaries a reason to unite

Egyptian soldiers march in a parade. Egypt commands the Arab world’s largest army. Photo: AFP

Pakistani activists march in Islamabad on Wednesday to protest against Israel’s air strikes on Qatar. Pakistan has called for a joint task force in response to the strikes. Photo: AFP

Qatar’s prime minister and other regional officials at the emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha on Sunday. Photo: Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Reuters

(From left) US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Egyptian soldiers march in a parade in 2023. Egypt commands the Arab world’s largest army. Photo: AFP

UN General Assembly votes for Hamas-free Palestinian state

Hamas fighters control a crowd while the Red Cross collects Israeli hostages to be released under a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in January. Photo: AP 

Palestinians walk past a destroyed building after an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Friday. Photo: AFP

Turkey fears becoming Israel’s next target after strike on Hamas in Qatar

Turkish and Russian soldiers patrol Rumaylan, Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province, in 2023. Photo: AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prays for the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Ankara last year. Photo: Reuters

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World

Middle East

United States & Canada

‘The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,’ the US Secretary of State said


‘The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,’ the US Secretary of State said.


On visit to Jerusalem, Rubio backs Israel in its goal to eradicate Hamas

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,’ the US Secretary of State said

‘The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,’ the US Secretary of State said