\u2022 Egypt says establishment of Palestinian state can alone guarantee lasting peace
\n\u2022 Netanyahu discusses Trump\u2019s \u2018bold vision\u2019 with visiting Rubio
\n\u2022 US diplomat calls Tehran \u2018single\u2019 greatest source of instability
\n\u2022 Shipment of US-made bombs reaches Israel
\n\u2022 Three Palestinian cops killed in IDF strike<\/p>\n
JERUSALEM: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a united front on Sunday against their common enemies, threatening to \u201copen the gates of hell\u201d on Hamas and \u201cfinish the job\u201d against Iran.<\/p>\n
The pledges came during a joint address to reporters in Jerusalem, where Rubio began his first Middle East trip as secretary of state in President Donald Trump\u2019s new administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamas cannot continue as a military or a government force\u2026 they must be eliminated,\u201d Rubio said of the Palestinian group that fought Israel for more than 15 months in Gaza until a fragile ceasefire took effect on Jan 19.<\/p>\n
Standing beside Rubio, Netanyahu said the two allies had \u201ca common strategy\u201d, and that \u201cthe gates of hell will be opened\u201d if all prisoners still held in Gaza are not freed.<\/p>\n
The comments came a day after Hamas freed three Israeli prisoners in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners \u2014 the sixth such swap under the ceasefire deal, which the United States helped mediate along with Qatar and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of ceasefire violations.<\/p>\n
Adding to strain on the deal, Trump has made a widely condemned proposal to take control of Gaza and relocate its more than two million residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe discussed Trump\u2019s bold vision for Gaza\u2019s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
The scheme that Trump outlined earlier lacked details, but he said it would entail moving Gazans to Jordan or Egypt.<\/p>\n
Trump said Palestinians had \u201clived a miserable existence\u201d in Gaza, and suggested the coastal territory could be redeveloped into the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018The only plan\u2019<\/p>\n
Washington says it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments, but Rubio has said that for now, \u201cthe only plan is the Trump plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, the international community, including Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, is largely in favour of a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.<\/p>\n
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday said the establishment of a Palestinian state was \u201cthe only guarantee\u201d of lasting Middle East peace.<\/p>\n
Rubio is heading to Saudi Arabia on Monday, and will also visit the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Israel\u2019s defence ministry said it had received a shipment of US-made 2,000-pound bombs \u201creleased by the Trump administration\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration had previously blocked a shipment of the munitions over fears they would be used in heavily populated parts of Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Egypt says establishment of Palestinian state can alone guarantee lasting peace \u2022 Netanyahu discusses Trump\u2019s \u2018bold vision\u2019 with visiting Rubio \u2022 US diplomat calls Tehran \u2018single\u2019 greatest source of instability \u2022 Shipment of US-made bombs reaches Israel \u2022 Three Palestinian cops killed in IDF strike JERUSALEM: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5684,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions\/5684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}