JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (Feb 17) he was “committed” to a US proposal to take over Gaza and displace its Palestinian residents, as Washington’s top diplomat was in Saudi Arabia to push the plan opposed by Arab states.
As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a visit to Saudi Arabia, a Saudi source 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 the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait will be represented at the Friday summit, the source said.
Rubio travelled to Riyadh from Israel, where he kicked off his first Middle East trip as Trump’s secretary of state.
Following his meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, Rubio said Hamas “must be eliminated”, while the Israeli premier touted a “common strategy” between the two allies.
In a statement Monday, 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 Rubio has said for now, “the only plan is the Trump plan”.
The United States has been pushing for a historic deal in which Saudi Arabia would recognise Israel, for which Riyadh has demanded the establishment of a Palestinian state – long opposed by Israeli leaders and potentially in contradiction with Trump’s Gaza plan.
Since it came into effect nearly a month ago, Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the Gaza truce, which has been further strained by Trump’s proposal to take control of rubble-strewn Gaza and move its more than two million residents.
Negotiations on a second phase of the truce, 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.
Netanyahu’s office said he would convene a meeting of his security cabinet on Monday to discuss phase two.
It said negotiators dispatched to Cairo would “receive further directives for negotiations on Phase II” after the cabinet meeting.
