Netanyahu says his country is working in
full cooperation with the US in
eliminating Hamas and ending the
conflict in Gaza he was speaking after
meeting the US Secretary of State in
what is Marco Rubio's first visit to the
Middle East since his appointment
secretary Rubio said the two countries
shared a common position on Gaza as he
reiterated president Trump's plan for
the future of the region he also
highlighted the threat of an and
promised the US would not allow tan to
become a nuclear State Mr Netanyahu president Israel ever had and warned
Hamas that Israel would in his words
open the gates of hell if all hostages
were not
returned I want to assure everyone who's
now listening to US president Trump and
I are working in full cooperation and
coordination between us we have a common
strategy
and we can't always share the details of
this uh strategy with the public
including when the Gates of Hell will be
open as they surely will if all our
hostages are not released until the last
one of
them Israel is determined to achieve all
the war objectives we set after the
horrific attack on October 7th the worst
attack on Jews since the Holocaust we
will eliminate hamas's military
capability and its political rule in
Gaza we will bring all our hostages home
and we will ensure that Gaza never again
poses a threat to Israel the unequivocal
support of the United States on Gaza
will help us achieve these objectives
faster and set us on a path for a
different future secretary uh Rubio and
I discussed president Trump's bold
vision for Gaza for gaza's future how we
can work together to ensure that that
future becomes a reality
Benjamin Netanyahu there well the US
Secretary of State stressed the
importance that all Israeli hostages are
returned home he also highlighted the
threat from Iran across the Middle
East the common theme in all of these
challenges is
Iran it is 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 and by Iran I mean the
Ayatollah by Iran I mean its regime a
regime who by the way its people don't
support the people of Iran are victims
of that
regime and so I think it's important to
constantly point that whether we talk
about Hamas or we talk about Hezbollah
or we talk about violence in the West
Bank or we talk about destabilization in
Syria or we talk about any of these
issues the militias in Iraq
they all have behind them one common
theme
Iran and that must be addressed and
there can never be a nuclear Iran a
nuclear Iran that could then hold itself
immune from pressure and from action
that can never
happen US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
there well let's speak to our state
department correspondent Tom baitman uh
Tom those words there let's take first
of all the uh praise for what is
described as president Trump's bold
vision for Gaza it has of course been
criticized what is the latest in terms
of what it might entail for
Palestinians well as far as we know from
Mr Trump himself who has doubled down on
this proposal in recent days is that
what he has proposed is in his words the
resettlement permanently of the entire
population of Gaza into Egypt and Jordan
or further a field um while the US would
take possession of the Gaza Strip and
rebuild it as a Mediterranean Resort
he's called it the Riviera of the Middle
East now because of the clear sense of
compulsion around this plan it would be
illegal under international law it' be a
clear breach of the Fourth Geneva
Convention which strictly prohibits the
forcible transfer of people it would be
considered a war crime uh under that and
you know nevertheless we've heard Mr
Trump reiterate it what we've heard from
Mr Rubio not so much on this trip but in
the runup to it was perhaps a a
different emphasis on this particular
proposal because what he has said is
that he believes this is the only
proposal out there for the future of
Gaza and therefore it is up to Arab
nations in the region to step forward
and come up he believes with their own
proposals which they would therefore
back with money and potentially with
security forces to try to stabilize Gaza
um uh and so I think what Mr Rubio is
trying to suggest is that this is some
sort of maximalist negotiating position
to try and push neighboring Arab
countries to come up with an alternative
plan for the future governance of Gaza
it's worth saying that all of this is a
distinctly different future for gazer as
is proposed under Mr Trump he is
completely redrawn um the way the US not
only sees the entire conflict
historically but also the the the future
uh of Gaza because he has basically
blown out of the water what the Biden
administration had been hoping to get
towards and that would be at the the end
of the third phase of the current
ceasefire and hostage release deal that
you would have Gaza run basically by
moderate Palestinian forces perhaps with
Arab Nations helping out particularly
when it comes to security forces that
future is now gone and we are in a
situation where the American Amer an are
pushing something completely different
and in effect laying an expectation on
the Arab countries to sort of step in
and come up with that but really we do
have this sort of strategic vacuum when
it comes to any viable internationally
backed future for the Gaza Strip Tom
baitman our state department
correspondent Thank you.
