Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Scholars of international law say President Trump’s vision for American control of a Gaza without Palestinians would be ethnic cleansing and a war crime.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has suggested to reporters that President Trump was merely trying to “get a reaction” and “stir” other nations into providing more assistance for postwar Gaza. Credit… Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Feb. 16, 2025 Updated 2:54 p.m. ET Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Jerusalem on Sunday, where they discussed President Trump’s insistent proposals for the United States to seize the devastated Gaza Strip and force out its Palestinian residents, among other matters.
The trip is Mr. Rubio’s first to the region as secretary of state, and comes as uncertainty is rising over whether Israel and Hamas can or are willing to turn a tenuous cease-fire in Gaza into a permanent end to their war.
But Mr. Trump’s controversial vision for transforming Gaza into an American-owned “Riviera of the Middle East” has overshadowed those high-stakes negotiations, and Mr. Rubio is sure to be pressed for more clarity about the proposal during his visits in the coming days to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Trump has “been very bold about what the future for Gaza should be, not the same tired ideas of the past,” Mr. Rubio said in prepared remarks delivered alongside Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday after the two met privately. “It may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place.”
Mr. Rubio also talked about the need to watch for any security threats arising from the new government in Syria, and the imperative to disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon. And he asserted that Iran is the “common theme in all of these challenges,” using more aggressive language to describe that nation than Mr. Trump typically does in calling it “the single greatest source of instability in the region.”
“Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran,” Mr. Rubio said.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
