1 of 4 | U..S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greet one another throughout a joint information convention following their assembly on the prime minister’s workplace in Jerusalem on Sunday. Picture by Ohad Zwigenberg/pool/UPI

Feb. 16 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assembly in Israel on Sunday, declared the 2 nations’ mutual curiosity in releasing remaining hostages in Gaza, eradicating militant Hamas and addressing Iran’s dominance within the Center East.

Rubio, the brand new prime American diplomat, arrived in Tel Aviv on Saturday and met with Netanyahu in his workplace Sunday.

“It is necessary to always level that whether or not we speak about Hamas or we speak about Hezbollah, we speak about violence within the West Financial institution, or we speak about destabilization in Syria, or we speak about any of those points the militias in Iraq, all of them have behind them one frequent theme – Iran,” Rubio stated throughout a joint look with Netanyahu. “That have to be addressed.”

Netanyahu used stronger language about Iran.

“During the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Below the robust management of President Trump and along with your unflinching assist, I’ve little question that we are able to and can end the job.”

The prime minister stated they’d a “very productive dialogue, with our workers, on quite a lot of points.”

“None of them are extra necessary than Iran,” Netanyahu stated. “Israel and America stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering the specter of Iran. We agreed that the ayatollahs should not have nuclear weapons, and we additionally agreed that Iran’s aggression within the area must be rolled again. During the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Below the robust management of President Trump and along with your unflinching assist, I’ve little question that we are able to and can end the job.”

Rubio stated there “may by no means be a nuclear Iran.”

In November 2024, Israel destroyed an lively prime secret facility for nuclear weapons analysis.

U.S. intelligence has cautioned that main strikes on Iranian nuclear websites may improve the danger of a wider struggle breaking out within the Center East.

Give attention to Hamas

Rubio stated Hamas “have to be eradicated, it have to be eradicated.”

“the president has been very clear: Hamas can not proceed as a navy or authorities drive,” Rubio stated. “And admittedly, so long as it stands as a drive that may govern or as a drive that may administer or as a drive that may threaten by use of violence, peace turns into unattainable. They have to be eradicated. It have to be eradicated.”

A cease-fire is ready to run out March 1.

There are two different phases that embody a multi-phase settlement that also wants ultimate approval.

The second section would safe the discharge of round 60 male hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The ultimate stage is the return of the stays of lifeless hostages and a significant reconstruction plan for Gaza.

Netanyahu heas instructed a negotiating workforce to move to Cairo, Egypt, on Monday for talks on the continuation of the primary section of the hostage cope with Hamas.

The Prime Minister’s Workplace stated the choice was made “in coordination” with Witkoff, the U.S. particular envoy who spoke with Netanyahu earlier immediately.

Trump has proposed that the USA take over Gaza and transfer all Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, which has been strongly opposed by these nations and residents on the Gaza Strip.

“The President has additionally been very daring about his view of what the long run for Gaza ought to be – not the identical drained concepts of the previous however one thing that is daring and one thing that frankly took braveness and imaginative and prescient to be able to define,” Rubio stated. “And it could have shocked and shocked many, however what can not proceed is similar cycle the place we’ll repeat again and again and wind up in the very same place.”

Rubio stated “hostages want to return dwelling. They should be launched. … That should occur. It is not elective. And that is a aim we share in frequent and that’s one thing we’ll work on very carefully collectively.

Households of hostages have referred to as for a quick of 500 minutes, from 11:40 a.m. to eight p.m., or from dawn to sundown, Monday to mark 500 days because the hostages had been taken to Gaza by terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.

“We’ve got a typical technique and we will not all the time share particulars of this technique with the general public, together with when the gates of hell might be opened, as they absolutely will if all our hostages will not be launched, till the final one in every of them,” Netanyahu stated.

Rubio arrived in Israel after the discharge of three hostages for 369 prisoners. After the sixth handoff because the cease-fire on Jan. 25, Hamas has now launched 19 Israeli hostages as a part of the primary section of the cease-fire settlement. Eight of the 33 promised hostages are lifeless, in line with the Israeli authorities.

Militants killed greater than 1,200 folks throughout Hamas’assault. Then Israel struck Gaza, killing greater than 45,000 folks, in line with Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry.

Rubio additionally spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

“On behalf of the president, I can inform you he is strongly and deeply dedicated to the aim of each single hostage returning dwelling, each single one, and never resting, not being silent, not forgetting, till all of them are dwelling,” Rubio stated earlier than his assembly. “We work in very shut coordination with the federal government right here, as you already know, to make {that a} actuality, and that is still a really robust precedence.”

Herzog instructed Rubio that Israel is “grateful to President Donald Trump for his friendship and solidarity with the folks of Israel and the State of Israel, and we’re grateful for his direct involvement in bringing again our hostages.”

Different developments Sunday

A cargo a cargo of heavy bombs arrived after the Trump administration lifted a maintain on the deliveries.

Israel’s Protection Minister Israel Katz stated the cargo of MK-84 munitions “represents a major asset for the Air Drive and the IDF and serves as additional proof of the robust alliance between Israel and the USA,” in an announcement from his ministry.

The top of Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace, Salama Maroof, criticized the cargo of arms.

“As a substitute of sending meals, drugs, water, or shelter and constructing supplies to the victims within the Gaza Strip, even with a humanitarian motive, the USA of America, the primary democracy on this planet and a pioneer of human rights, because it describes itself, helps the felony occupation military with 1,800 heavy MK bombs,” Maroof stated.

Israel Protection Forces confirmed they carried out a drone strike in central Gaza as a warning after suspects in a automobile tried to drive to the Strip’s north through an unapproved route in violation of the cease-fire.

The IDF additionally stated it prevented an try and smuggle an assault rifle into Israel from Egypt earlier Sunday, utilizing a drone.

Israel stated the drone focused gunmen approaching Israeli forces close by.

Hamas stated the strike that killed three of its law enforcement officials Sunday close to the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah constitutes “a severe violation” of the ceasefire in impact since Jan. 19.

“The treacherous firing carried out by a Zionist drone this morning east of Rafah metropolis, focusing on police components tasked with securing the entry of assist … is taken into account a severe violation of the ceasefire settlement,” Hamas stated.

Lebanese media reported an Israeli airstrike close to the village of Harbata within the Baalbek District in northeastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, about 62 from the border with Israel.

Rubio’s go to in Israel

Earlier than his assembly with Israeli leaders, Rubio attended mass on the historic Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Rubio later Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Heart, on Sunday.

He was accompanied by International Affairs Minister of Israel Gideon Sa’ar and Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan.

Rubio visited The Guide of Names set up, which holds 4.8 million names of victims of the Holocaust.

He then participated in a memorial ceremony within the Corridor of Remembrance and signed the Yad Vashem Guestbook.

Rubio has not scheduled any conferences with Palestinians however plans to go to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. He beforehand was in Germany for the Munich Safety Convention and the G7 International Ministers’ Assembly.