U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late on February 15 to begin his first Middle East tour since assuming his position as the top U.S. diplomat last month.
Rubio, who arrived Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport following his trip to Munich, is due to hold talks with Israeli officials on February 16, when he is expected to speak of President Donald Trump's controversial proposal that would have the United States “taking over” the Gaza Strip.
The Strip, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians, has been devastated by 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, which has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
SEE ALSO: Why Trump's Gaza Proposal Is Stirring Global ControversyRubio is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on February 16. Netanyahu has expressed his gratitude for Trump’s "full support" for Israel's next moves in Gaza.
"Israel will now have to decide what they will do," Trump said in a social media post on February 15.
"The United States will back the decision they make!" he added.
On February 4, Trump told Netanyahu at a White House news conference that "the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it." He said Palestinians currently living there would be moved to Arab nations in the Middle East.
Details about how the radical proposal, first made in January, would work were not clear, including under what authority the United States could take control of the Gaza Strip, or how the residents would be relocated.
The remarks angered the region’s Arab nations and has also dismayed many traditional U.S. allies elsewhere.
As Rubio arrived, Israel and Hamas completed the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners as just more than two weeks remained in the initial phase of their agreed Gaza cease-fire.
Three hostages — Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov, 29 — appeared to be in better condition than those released a week ago.
The 369 Palestinian prisoners were later released. Israel has committed to releasing some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
SEE ALSO: As Netanyahu Visits The White House, Could Trump's Gaza Plan Happen?The conflict broke out when Iran-backed Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
The Israeli military has said 34 of those taken are now dead and an estimated 70 remain Hamas’s hands, the military has said.
Under the terms of the cease-fire deal brokered by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, the first phase was to last 42 days, to be followed by another round of negotiations to start on February 3.
Those talks were delayed, but officials have said the second round is expected to begin early next week in Doha.