JERUSALEM – Israel expressed commitment on Feb 17 to a US proposal to take over Gaza and displace its Palestinian residents, as Washington’s top diplomat held talks in Saudi Arabia where he was expected to push the plan opposed by Arab states.
Arriving in the kingdom after talks in Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio – on his first visit to the Middle East – met de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the State Department said.
A Saudi source had earlier told AFP that Riyadh would host a regional summit later this week “to discuss Arab alternatives” to President Donald Trump’s widely criticised plan for Gaza.
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait will be represented at the Friday summit on Feb 21, the source said.
In a statement on Feb 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “committed to US President Trump’s plan for the creation of a different Gaza”, also promising that after the war, “there will be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority” ruling the territory.
The United States, Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier, says it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments, but Mr Rubio has said for now, “the only plan is the Trump plan”.
The proposal lacked detail but Mr Trump said Palestinians had “lived a miserable existence” in Gaza and suggested the coastal territory could become the “Riviera of the Middle East” following redevelopment after more than 15 months of war.
The United States has also been pushing for a historic deal in which Saudi Arabia would recognise Israel. In return, Riyadh demands the establishment of a Palestinian state – long opposed by Israeli leaders and potentially in contradiction to Mr Trump’s Gaza plan.
On Feb 17, Egypt hosted the latest meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, which initially gathered in Saudi Arabia last year.
Egypt’s foreign ministry stressed Cairo’s “full commitment to implementing the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and “the necessity of establishing an independent Palestinian state”.
Mr Trump’s proposal has strained a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, the first phase of which would expire in early March.
Negotiations on a second phase, aimed at securing a more lasting end to the war, could begin this week in Doha, a Hamas official and another source familiar with the talks have said.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said he would convene a meeting of his security Cabinet on Feb 17 to discuss phase two.
It said negotiators dispatched to Cairo would “receive further directives for negotiations” on the second phase after the Cabinet meeting.
Hoping truce holds
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu said he spoke with Mr Rubio about “Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future” – which experts have warned would violate international law – and about ways to “ensure that vision becomes a reality”.
Since the truce took effect on Jan 19, a total of 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Out of 251 people seized in Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
The families of the hostages still in Gaza on Feb 17 marked 500 days of their captivity, holding pictures of their loved ones and banners reading “Home Now”.
Dozens marched towards Mr Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem before they met lawmakers in Parliament.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold an effigy of Prime Minister Netanyahu during a rally in Jerusalem on Feb 17.PHOTO: AFP
“My eyes burn from the tears I have shed for the past 500 days,” said Ms Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is among those held in Gaza.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum encouraged people to observe a 500-minute fast on Feb 17 in solidarity with the hostages.
Mr Rubio called in a statement for the immediate release of all remaining captives.
In Gaza, over the 500 days since Hamas’s attack sparked the war, Mr Mohammed Abu Mursa said he has known only “humiliation, suffering and bloodshed”.
Mr Abu Mursa and his family have been displaced more than a dozen times trying to survive.
“I just hope the ceasefire holds and that the exchange of prisoners continues,” he said.
Palestinians walk on a street among rubble of buildings at Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip on Feb 17.PHOTO: REUTERS
‘Gross violation’
The Gaza war has rippled across the Middle East, triggering violence in Yemen and Lebanon, where Iran backs militant groups.
An Israeli strike Feb 17 in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander, Mohammed Shahine, whom the Israeli military accused of planning attacks.
Israel fought a related war with Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, severely weakening it before a ceasefire took effect on Nov 27.
Mr Netanyahu said that with the support of the Trump administration, “I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job” against Iran.
Iran on Feb 17 condemned Mr Netanyahu’s remarks, calling them “a gross violation of international law”.
Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,271 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable. AFP
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