Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday. He has indicated that the Trump administration is actively considering requesting a mandate from the United Nations to deploy an international security force in Gaza.
Rubio’s visit makes him the latest in a series of high-ranking American officials traveling to Israel, all aiming to bolster the delicate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, Rubio emphasized the crucial role of the United States in helping “keep the cease-fire together.” The agreement has recently faced considerable pressure due to a resurgence of violence in Gaza and ongoing disagreements concerning the exchange of deceased Israelis and Palestinians.
The current truce stems from a proposal introduced by President Trump in September. This plan included the vision of a “temporary International Stabilization Force” for Gaza. Its intended role was to secure areas from which Israeli troops had withdrawn, prevent weapons from entering the territory, ensure the flow of humanitarian aid, and help train a new Palestinian police force.
However, several nations have expressed hesitation about contributing troops to such a force. Their reluctance stems from the unclear nature of its precise mission in the devastated Palestinian enclave and worries that their personnel might become entangled in direct conflict with Hamas fighters.
Rubio stated that “potentially seeking an international mandate from the U.N.” was a crucial step towards “building these international defense security forces.”
His arrival in Israel is set to occur shortly after Vice President JD Vance departs, highlighting the administration’s persistent focus on maintaining the cease-fire through consecutive high-level diplomatic visits. Earlier this week, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were also in Israel.
President Trump himself visited the country earlier this month to commemorate the cease-fire agreement. Yet, several Trump administration officials, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of private discussions, recently voiced concerns that Mr. Netanyahu might choose to abandon the deal.
Before his flight to Israel, Rubio also announced that American diplomats would soon be stationed at a newly established civil-military coordination center in southern Israel. Their role will be to closely monitor the fragile cease-fire.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Rubio noted. “But we absolutely wanted to ensure our presence there, with the right personnel at the coordination center, as it is vital for keeping this entire agreement intact.”
Vice President Vance, having visited the coordination center earlier this week, acknowledged that achieving a lasting peace would “not be easy” for the administration.
Several complex issues remain unresolved, including a key provision in the president’s 20-point peace blueprint that calls for the disarmament of Hamas—a condition the militant group has consistently rejected.
The cease-fire, which came into effect last month, saw Israeli forces withdraw from parts of Gaza and resulted in the exchange of the final 20 Israeli hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
This week, the agreement faced renewed challenges after Israeli lawmakers passed a preliminary measure for the annexation of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a move explicitly forbidden by President Trump’s peace plan.
On Wednesday, Rubio explicitly stated his opposition to Israel’s annexation of the territory, describing the measure as “potentially threatening to the peace deal.”