United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Israel on Saturday for an official visit, less than a week after the Israel Defense Forces attacked Hamas leaders inside the US ally Qatar’s capital city Doha.
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, he and Rubio will visit the Western Wall together in Jerusalem on Sunday, though it did not announce plans for the two leaders to sit for a formal working meeting as well.
On the tarmac in Washington ahead of his flight, Rubio told reporters that the US is “not happy” about Israeli strikes targeting Hamas in Qatar, but the attack will not change Washington’s allied status with Israel.
Tuesday’s strike — the first by Israel against US ally Qatar — rocked the region and put a huge strain on diplomatic efforts to bring about a truce in war-ravaged Gaza.
“What’s happened has happened. Obviously, we were not happy about it, the president was not happy about it,” Rubio told reporters shortly before departing Washington for discussions with officials in Israel.
“It’s not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis, but we are going to have to talk about it — primarily, what impact does this have” on the truce efforts, Rubio added.
“We need to move forward and figure out what comes next, because at the end of the day, when all is said and done, there is still a group called Hamas, which is an evil group,” he said.
Rubio added that he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way forward in Gaza.
“We’re going to talk about what the future holds, and I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward,” he said.
Trump “wants Hamas defeated, he wants the war to end, he wants all 48 hostages home, including those that are deceased, and he wants it all at once,” Rubio continued. “And we’ll have to discuss about how the events last week had an impact on the ability to achieve that in short order.”
Israel targeted Hamas leaders gathering in Qatar to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Trump has called Israel’s attack unfortunate, chided Netanyahu, and said the United States found out about the attack too late to stop it.
On Friday, Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff held dinner with the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in New York. Earlier in the day, al-Thani held a four-hour-long meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Rubio at the White House.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Vance and Rubio expressed their appreciation for Qatar’s “tireless mediation efforts and its effective role in bringing peace to the region,” and said that Doha is a “reliable strategic ally of the United States of America.”
Thani “affirmed that the State of Qatar will take all measures to protect its security and safeguard its sovereignty in the face of the blatant Israeli attack,” the statement read.
In addressing Rubio’s visit to Israel, the State Department this week said only that the top US diplomat would discuss “operational goals and objectives” with Israel and show “the US commitment to Israeli security.”
According to the Axios news site, among the topics that Rubio will discuss with Israeli officials is the potential annexation of the West Bank as a response to Western nations’ planned recognition of a Palestinian state. The top US diplomat has warned countries considering recognizing Palestinian statehood during the UN General Assembly later this month that Israel could take “reciprocal” action in the form of annexing the West Bank.
Before departing for Israel, Rubio also confirmed he would take part in the inauguration of a new tunnel in Jerusalem’s Old City for visitors approaching the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews, which is also sacred for Muslims as the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“The City of David is separate. I intend to go to that,” Rubio said.
Amid growing signs that the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar on Tuesday failed, Netanyahu hinted strongly on Saturday that they are still alive and should be targeted again.
“The Hamas terrorists cheifs [sic] living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu on X.
“They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war,” he continued.
“Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war,” he concludes in a post uncharacteristically containing a typo, written shortly after the end of Shabbat.
According to recent reports, Israel’s security establishment now increasingly believes it failed to kill any of Hamas’s top brass who were gathered at the site of Tuesday’s strike in Doha.
Hamas identified the dead as Jihad Labad, head of the office of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya; al-Hayya’s son Hammam al-Hayya; and three others described as “associates” — either advisers or bodyguards: Abdallah Abd al-Wahid, Muamen Hassouna and Ahmad Abd al-Malek. In addition, a Qatari security officer, Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, was killed.
Their funerals were held Thursday in Doha, and were attended by several top Hamas leaders, as well as the Qatari emir.