Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not excluded additional strikes on Hamas officials after last week’s assault in Qatar, asserting that they would possess no immunity “wherever they are”.
During a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu asserted that every nation possesses the right “to defend itself beyond its borders.”
Israel’s choice to target high-ranking Hamas officials in Qatar, a staunch US ally, elicited global condemnation and rebuke from US President Donald Trump. Hamas reported that six individuals were deceased, while its leaders remained unharmed.
When questioned about the US’s involvement in the strike, Netanyahu stated to journalists: “We acted independently.” Duration.
The meeting between Rubio and Netanyahu occurs concurrently with a summit of Arab leaders demonstrating support for Qatar. The prime minister called on the international community to cease employing “double standards” and to hold Israel accountable.
In reply to a query from the media regarding the impact of Israel’s strike on US relations in the region, Rubio stated that Washington upheld “robust relationships with our Gulf allies”.
Qatar accommodates a significant US airfield and has been instrumental in facilitating diplomatic initiatives to resolve the conflict in Gaza, acting as a mediator in indirect conversations between Hamas and Israel.
On Sunday, Netanyahu informed reporters that the US-Israel alliance was as “enduring as the stones in the Western Wall” during a brief visit to the sacred monument in Jerusalem’s Old City with Rubio.
During the journey, accompanied by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Rubio inscribed a letter and inserted it into the wall, adhering to a customary practice observed by visitors. The men disregarded reporters’ inquiries regarding Israel’s assaults in Qatar.
Netanyahu and Rubio are also said to have discussed Israeli military strategies to capture Gaza City and the ongoing construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
During the weekend, the Israeli military continued the demolition of residential structures in Gaza City and, as reported by local media, is now prepared to initiate ground operations in the western neighborhoods of the city.
It has instructed the population of Gaza City to evacuate southward to a central region of the strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimate that approximately 250,000 Palestinians have evacuated; however, hundreds of thousands are thought to still be present in the region.
Some assert they cannot finance a trip south, while others contend that southern Gaza is unsafe due to Israeli airstrikes in the region. Some reported that they endeavored to travel south but were unable to establish their tents, prompting their return to Gaza City.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Rubio occurs before a UN General Assembly session next week, at which several prominent US allies, including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium, are anticipated to acknowledge the State of Palestine.
This anticipated acknowledgment has heightened discussions in Israel on the future of the West Bank, with more extreme factions of the government asserting that annexation is the sole means to avert a Palestinian state.
In late August, the Israeli government granted final approval for the E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, which would effectively bifurcate the West Bank, segregating the Palestinian communities in the north and south.
During the signing of a deal to advance E1 last Thursday, Netanyahu stated: “We will honor our commitment that there will be no Palestinian state.” This location is ours.
Earlier this month, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich presented his proposal for the annexation of almost eighty percent of the West Bank.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has established over 160 settlements accommodating 700,000 Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories that Palestinians seek, together with Gaza, for a prospective future state. Approximately 3.3 million Palestinians reside in proximity to them.
The settlements contravene international law.
On Monday evening, Rubio is scheduled to visit the City of David archeological park, created by a settler organization in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, located in occupied East Jerusalem.
He will participate in the inauguration of the “Pilgrimage Road,” a tunnel excavated beneath Palestinian residences, purportedly tracing the path of a Roman-era thoroughfare utilized by pilgrims to the Biblical temple that formerly occupied the site referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).
Critics assert that the City of David park seeks to politicize archaeology, to the detriment of Palestinian inhabitants.
