JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Sunday that he was moving forward with US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza, calling it “the only viable plan to enable a different future” in the region.
Netanyahu discussed the plan with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who began a Middle East visit by supporting Israel’s war goals in Gaza, stating that Hamas “must be eradicated.” That raised further concerns about the shaky ceasefire, as talks on the second phase have yet to begin.
Rubio is expected to face more opposition from Arab leaders during his upcoming stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza under US ownership. Netanyahu has stated that all emigration from Gaza must be “voluntary,” but rights groups and other critics argue that the plan amounts to coercion given the territory’s widespread destruction.
Netanyahu said he and Trump share a “common strategy” for Gaza. Echoing Trump, he stated that “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas does not release dozens of remaining hostages kidnapped during the militant group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the 16-month war.
The ceasefire’s first phase will end in two weeks. Negotiations were supposed to begin two weeks ago on the second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a long-term truce, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special Middle East envoy, told Fox News that “phase two is absolutely going to begin” and that he had “very productive” calls on Sunday with Netanyahu and mediators from Egypt and Qatar about continuing talks this week. He also stated that the hostages to be released include 19 Israeli soldiers, and “we believe all of them are alive.”
Netanyahu’s office announced that Israel’s security Cabinet would meet Monday to discuss the second phase.
Trump later told journalists that it is “up to Israel to decide what the next step is, in consultation with me.”
In another sign of closer cooperation, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that it had received a shipment of 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) MK-84 munitions from the United States. The Biden administration halted a shipment of such bombs last year due to concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza.
Resuming the war could doom hostages
Rubio said peace becomes impossible as long as Hamas “stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence,” adding, “It must be eradicated.”
Hamas reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire began last month, despite suffering heavy losses.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he kicked of a Mideast tour in Israel on Sunday. It comes as Arab leaders reel from President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip to other countries and redevelop it under U.S. ownership.
Netanyahu has offered Hamas a chance to surrender and send top leaders into exile. Hamas has rejected that scenario and insists on Palestinian rule. Spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told The Associated Press the group accepts a Palestinian unity government or a technocratic committee to run Gaza.
Netanyahu instructed negotiators to leave for Cairo on Monday to discuss further implementation of the ceasefire’s first phase, as issues over delivery of shelter materials continue.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it carried out an airstrike on people who approached forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said it killed three of its police officers while they secured the entry of aid trucks near Rafah on the Egyptian border.
‘If someone has a better plan … that’s great’
In an interview last week, Rubio stated that Trump’s Gaza proposal was intended to put pressure on Arab states to develop their own postwar plan that Israel would accept.
Rubio also appeared to suggest that Arab countries send troops to combat Hamas.
“If the Arab countries have a better plan, then that is great,” Rubio said Thursday on the “Clay and Buck Show.”
But “Hamas has guns,” he said. “Someone needs to confront those guys. It will not be American soldiers. And if the other countries in the region cannot figure it out, Israel will have to.”
Rubio was not scheduled to meet with Palestinians during his trip.
Arabs have limited options
For Arab leaders, facilitating the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or battling Palestinian militants on behalf of Israel are nightmare scenarios that would bring fierce domestic criticism and potentially destabilize an already volatile region.
Egypt hosts an Arab summit on Feb. 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza’s rebuilding without removing its population. Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.
Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of U.S. influence in the region.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia also have rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians.
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords in which four Arab states — Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan — normalized relations with Israel during Trump’s previous term.
Trump hopes to expand the accords to include Saudi Arabia, potentially offering closer U.S. defense ties, but the kingdom has said it won’t normalize relations with Israel without a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Arab and Muslim countries have made any support for postwar Gaza contingent on a return to Palestinian governance and a path to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel during the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel has rejected a Palestinian state and any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power in 2007.