US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a strong supporter of the State of Israel, is expected to arrive in Jerusalem this weekend as part of his first Middle East diplomacy tour.
Rubio’s first stop is not in the region – he is heading to Munich to participate in a security conference as well as the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting before starting his Feb. 15-18 tour in Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Rubio will arrive in Israel on Saturday, Feb. 15 — the same day Hamas was supposed to release Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire deal the terror group has already violated.
“Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials will promote US interests in advancing regional cooperation, stability, and peace,” the State Department said Thursday.
“The trip will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies.”
Hamas announced earlier in the week that it has decided not to release the hostages still slated to be freed by the terror group. This is a repetition of a similar move by the terror group on the final day of the previous hostage release and ceasefire agreement in November 2023. At that time, Hamas refused to free the 10 hostages who were slated for release on the eighth day of the agreement and instead returned to waging war against Israel.
In response to this week’s Hamas announcement, President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum, ordering the terrorists to release all the remaining hostages by 12 noon Saturday or face “hell.”
The Israeli government leveraged Trump’s statement to issue one that offers far more flexibility, but which also made clear the IDF will return to combat if Hamas does not meet its obligations under the deal.
“We all welcomed President Trump’s demand to release our hostages by Saturday noon,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the IDF will resume intense fighting until the final defeat of Hamas.”
Netanyahu’s statement, which followed a unanimous decision passed by Israel’s security cabinet, was carefully worded to avoid detailing how many hostages must be released this weekend.
The IDF was ordered to redeploy inside and surrounding the Gaza Strip in anticipation of the resumption of the fighting.
Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a separate statement on Wednesday during a visit to the IDF Operations Division command post, likewise warning that if Hamas does not release the hostages by Shabbat, “the gates of hell will open upon them, just as the president promised.”
Despite all the bluster, Katz — like Netanyahu — was very careful not to specify that Hamas was required to free “all” the remaining hostages.
Kat said he visited the Operations Division to ensure the IDF is “properly prepared” for the renewal of war in Gaza.
“The entire ceasefire agreement with the Hamas murderers was intended to bring about the rapid release of the Israeli hostages who are being held in extremely harsh conditions in Gaza, and in return for this, Israel agreed to pay heavy prices,” Katz pointed out.
“If Hamas stops releasing the hostages – then there is no agreement and there is war,” he said.
Katz added that renewed combat in Gaza will be different in intensity from the one before the ceasefire. “It will not end without the defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages and will also enable the realization of US President Trump’s vision,” Katz said.
The Trump Plan for Gaza envisions the voluntary emigration of the local population from the war-torn enclave to various other countries around the region and elsewhere. Egypt, backed by Jordan and other Arab states, has consistently blocked Gazans from leaving the territory, claiming they should not be “forced to leave their land.”
