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US secretary of state Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Sunday amid tensions with US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and Trump were not happy about the strikes, but that it was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.
Asked if he was concerned about threats by Israeli officials to carry out further strikes in Qatar, Rubio said: “We’re going to meet with them. We’re going to talk about what the future holds. I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward.
“What’s happened has happened. Obviously we’re not happy about it, the president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next.”
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week, which will reportedly soon receive its first group of injured and sick children from Gaza for treatment.
While in Jerusalem on Sunday, Rubio will visit the Western Wall with Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Rubio’s visit follows an unprecedented attack by Israel against Hamas leaders in an upmarket neighbourhood of Doha on Tuesday. It marked Israel’s first such strike against US ally Qatar and has put renewed strain on diplomatic efforts to bring about a truce in war-ravaged Gaza, and drew international criticism.
Trump has openly chided Netanyahu over the attack, which targeted Hamas leaders gathering to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States.
Netanyahu has defended the operation, saying on Saturday that killing senior Hamas officials would remove the “main obstacle” to ending the war.
The talk of a ceasefire, still out of reach after months of failed negotiations, came as Israel has been intensifying its campaign in the Gaza Strip.
In recent days, it has ramped up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban area, telling residents to evacuate and blowing up numerous high-rise buildings it said were being used by Hamas.
While thousands of people have evacuated the city, according to the Israeli military and Hamas, many more remain.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 32 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.
Netanyahu and his government have defied international criticism throughout the nearly two-year war, but it continued to mount this week.
On Friday, the UN general assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in open defiance of Israeli opposition.
Israeli allies Britain and France, alongside several other western nations, are set to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.
London and Paris, joined by Berlin, also called for an immediate halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza City. Nevertheless, Israel retains the backing of its most powerful ally and biggest arms supplier, the United States.
Ahead of Rubio’s visit, state department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the US’s top diplomat would show “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism”.
“He will also emphasise our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home.”
At home, opponents of the Netanyahu government have sought to put pressure on ministers to end the war in return for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main campaign group, accused the Israeli premier of being the “one obstacle” to freeing the hostages and accused him of repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire efforts.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 64,803 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters
