Rubio in Qatar after warning of ‘short window’ to secure Gaza ceasefire
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has landed in Qatar, the only country he says can mediate an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, shortly after warning that just a “short window” remains to secure a ceasefire.
Israel announced on Tuesday it has started the main part of a ground operation to seize Gaza City soon after Rubio left Tel Aviv.
Rubio arrived in Doha a week after Israel carried out strikes against Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital, drawing international condemnation.
His visit comes a day after Gulf states pledged to activate a joint defence pact as Arab and Islamic leaders stood in solidarity against Israel’s attack during an emergency summit in Qatar.
En route to Doha, Rubio told reporters he would urge Qatar to continue playing a “constructive role” in the negotiations after the Israeli attack, which the Gulf nation called “cowardly and treacherous”.
“Obviously, they have to decide if they want to do that after last week or not, but we want them to know that if there’s any country in the world that could help end this through a negotiation, it’s Qatar,” he said.
But Rubio warned that time was running out to secure a deal as Israel intensified its bombardments of Gaza City, killing dozens of people in the urban centre and destroying numerous residential buildings as it pushes forward with plans to seize the besieged territory.
“The Israelis have begun to take operations there, so we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months any more, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go,” Rubio said.
“Our number one choice is that this ends through a negotiated settlement where Hamas says, ‘We’re going to demilitarise. We’re no longer going to pose a threat,'” the diplomat said, repeating his stance on Monday in Israel that the Palestinian group needed to “cease to exist”.
Rubio, later on Tuesday held talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as the US and Qatar are close to finalising an enhanced defence cooperation agreement, according to the US diplomat
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said bilateral relations and the strategic partnership between Qatar and the US were discussed in the talks. The attack on Doha and the repercussions of the Israeli war on Gaza were a key part of the meeting.
“Our relations with the United States are strategic, especially on the defence level, and this was part of the discussion during his (Rubio) visit ….We are determined to defend our sovereignty and take measures to prevent any recurrence of any attack,” he added.
Al-Ansari also noted that Qatar appreciates the stance of Arab and Islamic countries in solidarity with the country.
The US secretary of state’s visit to Qatar comes at a critical time of friction in the wake of the Israeli attack.
On Monday, Rubio affirmed the unwavering US support for Israel at a news conference in West Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Later that day after Netanyahu refused to rule out another strike on Qatar to assassinate the Hamas leaders involved in the ceasefire negotiations, US President Donald Trump insisted in the Oval Office that Netanyahu “won’t be doing that again”.
Still, Rubio told reporters that the US and Qatar have a “close partnership”.
“In fact, we have an enhanced defence cooperation agreement, which we’ve been working on, we’re on the verge of finalising,” he said.
Speaking from Doha on Tuesday, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said there were still “a lot of unanswered questions” after Rubio’s trip to Israel.
“The optics of yesterday, I think it is safe to say, will be pretty shocking for people across this region,” he said, citing Rubio’s hug with Netanyahu.
Israeli attack on Qatar
In an emergency summit in Doha on Monday, the leaders from Arab and Muslim countries pledged in a joint statement to take action to prevent Israel from attacking Palestinians.
The statement also urged states to review “diplomatic and economic relations with it [Israel], and initiate legal proceedings against it”.
But as the summit condemned the attack in Qatar and Rubio said there was not much time to reach a ceasefire, attacks rang out throughout the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the centre of Gaza City was “on fire”.
“We will not relent, and we will not back down until the mission is accomplished,” Katz said.
At least 24 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning and more were wounded in Israeli air attacks across Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The majority of those casualties were women and children.
