US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: Gaza War Continues as Hostage Release Negotiations Progress

Marco Rubio described the second phase of the long-term future of Gaza as "even harder."

WASHINGTON:

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Sunday that the Gaza war has "not yet" concluded, emphasizing that the release of hostages held by Hamas represents only the first phase, while arrangements for what follows still require negotiation.

He indicated that Hamas had "basically" accepted President Donald Trump's proposal and the framework for hostage release, with meetings currently underway to coordinate the logistics of this operation.

"They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what's going to happen afterwards," he stated. "A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there."

Rubio mentioned that the US would determine "very quickly" whether Hamas was genuine during the ongoing technical discussions about coordinating the hostage release.

"Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on, hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back" to the yellow line - Israel's position within Gaza in mid-August - Rubio explained.

He characterized the second phase regarding Gaza's long-term future as "even harder."

"What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line, and potentially beyond that, as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that's not Hamas?" Rubio questioned. "How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel? How do you get them to demobilise?"

"All that work, that's going to be hard, but that's critical, because without that, you're not going to have lasting peace," he concluded.