U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Monday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as shut U.S. ally Qatar gathered different Arab nations’ leaders for a summit to difficulty unified condemnation of final week’s Israeli airstrike concentrating on Hamas leaders within the Qatari capital.
On Sunday, President Trump urged Netanyahu’s authorities to be “very careful” following the airstrike in Doha.
“They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States,” Mr. Trump instructed reporters at Morristown airport in New Jersey.
Talking Monday alongside Rubio, Netanyahu heaped reward on the Trump administration for its staunch, more and more distinctive worldwide assist of Israel’s techniques in its ongoing conflict towards Hamas — which has lengthy been designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and the European Union — within the Gaza Strip.
“Your presence here today sends a clear message that America stands with Israel,” Netanyahu stated.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake palms throughout a go to to the Western Wall Tunnels, beneath the Jewish holy website, within the outdated metropolis of Jerusalem, Sept. 14, 2025.
NATHAN HOWARD/POOL/AFP/Getty
The Israeli chief has vigorously defended final week’s strike in Doha, saying Israeli fighter jets focused senior Hamas leaders liable for the Hamas-led, Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist assault that killed some 1,200 individuals and noticed 251 others taken as hostages again into Gaza.
Hamas has stated that 5 of its members have been killed, however that Israel didn’t kill its meant targets — senior members of the group’s political negotiating crew, who’ve lengthy been based mostly in Doha, with the data and backing of each Israel and the U.S.
“Irrespective of what has occurred, the reality is we still have 48 hostages. We still have Hamas that is holding Gaza hostage and using civilians as human shields… as long as they are around there will be no peace in this region,” Rubio stated.
Addressing reporters Saturday at Joint Base Andrews previous to his departure, Rubio stated he can be talking with Netanyahu to “get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward.”
“What’s happened has happened. Obviously, we were not happy about it. The president was not happy with it,” Rubio stated, referring to the strike in Doha. “Now 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 that still has weapons and is terrorizing.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani issued a contemporary condemnation of Israel’s assault on Sunday, and he referred to as “for the international community to stop its double standards and punish Israel for its crimes.”
This handout picture supplied by Qatar’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs exhibits Qatar’s Prime Minister and Overseas Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani chairing a preparatory assembly in Doha, Sept. 14, 2025, forward of an Arab Islamic summit.
QATARI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/AFP/Getty
Qatar is a key U.S. ally and it has lengthy hosted the most important American navy base within the Center East, the Al-Udeid Air Base, the place there are literally thousands of U.S. troops based mostly.
A handout picture supplied by Qatar’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs exhibits a preparatory assembly in Doha, Sept. 14, 2025, forward of an Arab Islamic summit chaired by Qatar’s Prime Minister and Overseas Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
QATARI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/AFP/Getty
Israel has vehemently denied a number of accusations that its conflict in Gaza quantities to a genocide towards Palestinians, arguing that its navy marketing campaign is solely towards Hamas militants whom it accuses of placing civilians in harms method through the use of them as human shields.
The supply aware of the draft assertion from the Doha summit stated the decision would name “on the international community to coordinate efforts to impose international sanctions on Israel — suspending the supply of weapons, munitions, and military material, and reviewing diplomatic and economic relations — to stop its crimes against the Palestinian people and attacks on regional countries.”
Israel’s conflict has killed greater than 64,000 Palestinians within the practically two years because it started, in accordance with Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Well being, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel rejects that determine however has not provided its personal estimate and doesn’t allow international journalists to enter Gaza and function independently.
The United Nations considers the tally from the Gazan well being ministry probably the most dependable info obtainable on the conflict’s loss of life toll.
Final month, Israel declared Gaza Metropolis, the Palestinian Territory’s largest inhabitants middle, a “dangerous combat zone” and a Hamas stronghold. In latest days, Israeli navy forces have ramped up an aerial assault on town, toppling a number of extra high-rise buildings on Sunday in what was already an apocalyptic panorama.
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that hit and destroyed a number of buildings and high-rise towers in Gaza Metropolis, Gaza, Sept. 14, 2025.
Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu/Getty
The U.N. Normal Meeting overwhelmingly voted Friday to assist a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestinian battle — the long-standing name for an impartial Palestinian state to be created alongside Israel as a part of a negotiated peace settlement, which has been a cornerstone of U.S. international coverage for many years.
President Trump, who beforehand voiced assist for a two-state resolution, has extra not too long ago distanced his administration from adherence to that goal, regardless of rising assist internationally for Palestinian statehood.
Israel and the U.S. have been among the many 10 international locations that voted towards the decision, and earlier than the vote, Netanyahu reiterated his authorities’s stance that, “there will be no Palestinian state.”
The U.N. decision additionally condemned Israel’s alleged assaults on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its “siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.”
The non-binding decision, which 142 nations supported, additionally referred to as for the discharge of all remaining Israeli hostages and outlined a imaginative and prescient wherein the Palestinian Authority, which at present partially administers the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, would govern and management all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee instantly established underneath its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.
“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority,” the declaration stated.
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