DUBAI — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is holding meetings in Saudi Arabia on Monday to discuss President Donald Trump's displacement and redevelopment plans for the Gaza Strip and to meet with Russian counterparts on steps to ending the war in Ukraine.
This is Rubio's first visit to the Middle East as secretary of state, and began with a stop in Israel. There, his team pushed for negotiations to begin for a second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza. On Monday, Israel sent a delegation to Cairo to prepare for those talks, just two weeks before the current ceasefire is set to expire. According to the ceasefire deal, which began Jan. 19, talks about the second phase were supposed to start Feb. 3.
Rubio's meetings in Saudi Arabia and the UAE come as the two countries position themselves as brokers between the United States and Russia. These Gulf states rely heavily on U.S. military support and have investments with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. They also share an oil pact and business ties with Russia.
Rubio pushes Trump's Gaza plans in the region
Trump's vision of a Gaza Strip owned by the United States and refashioned into a "Riviera" of the Middle East, with all its Palestinian residents displaced to other countries, will need Arab buy-in, particularly from wealthy Gulf Arab states. They could be asked to bring pressure on Egypt and Jordan, which Trump says should take in Palestinians permanently relocated from Gaza.
Gulf Arab states would also be expected to finance much of Gaza's redevelopment as rubble is cleared. Palestinian officials say thousands of bodies and unexploded munitions from Israeli airstrikes remain under the debris.
Saudi Arabia and other key Arab states say they reject any plan that displaces Palestinians from their land, but it's unclear if they are willing to coalesce behind alternative plans drawn up by Egypt. Arab Gulf states are unlikely to invest billions into rebuilding Gaza so long as Hamas is still present on the ground and the specter of fresh Israeli attacks looms. Hamas has called Trump's plan ethnic cleansing.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was close to establishing ties with Israel two years ago, but he has since described the war in Gaza as a genocide, mirroring widespread public sentiment in the region about the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes following the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Militants led by Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage that day, according to Israeli authorities. The war has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Where the United States and Saudi Arabia are expected to see eye-to-eye on is deterring Iran, stabilizing Lebanon after the weakening of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and easing pressures on the new Syrian government.
In Israel, Rubio described Iran as "the single greatest force of instability in the region." He also said that while Trump's plan for taking over Gaza surprised many, it is what's on the table for now.
"What cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again, and wind up in the exact same place," he said. "Hamas cannot continue as a military or government force."
Rubio to meet with Russians to discuss ending Ukraine war
While in Saudi Arabia, Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and others are also meeting a Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov. The Kremlin says that talks are aimed at laying the ground for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and exploring the shape of a peace agreement over Ukraine.
All this follows a recent phone call between Trump and Putin that lasted more than hour.
Ukrainians are not part of Monday's meeting in Saudi Arabia, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the UAE with his wife on Monday, ahead of an expected visit to Saudi Arabia this week.
This is Rubio's first visit to the Middle East as secretary of state
Rubio arrived a day after three more Israeli hostages, including a dual American-Israeli citizen, were released by Hamas in exchange for more than 300 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Some of the Palestinians were held for convictions of violent crimes, but many others were held without charge and released back to Gaza.
The exchange is part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that's set to expire in two weeks, with the Trump administration pushing for the ceasefire to continue until all hostages are brought home.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the U.S.-Israeli alliance under Trump, telling reporters that he and Rubio talked about how to "complete the change in the Middle East."
Netanyahu also spoke to the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations in Israel on Sunday, again throwing his support behind Trump's plan.
"We're in a position to change the Middle East," he said, adding that the possibilities that loom before Israel today are unique. "They have never been available to us as they are now, and we intend to pursue them to the full."
He spoke just after Israel received a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs from the United States that can burrow deep underground and cause widespread destruction. That shipment was released by Trump after it had been frozen by the Biden administration due to concerns over its use on densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza.
Israel's defense ministry says since the deadly Hamas on Israel attack in 2023, it has received more than 678 airlifts and 129 sea shipments of military equipment to date.
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