Rubio Rejects Hamas Role, Sees Hope in Abraham Accords

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a definitive and forceful declaration of American policy for a post-war Gaza, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday stated unequivocally that "Hamas cannot be involved in governing Gaza in the future," a clear and uncompromising condition that lays the groundwork for the next, far more challenging phase of a fragile peace process.

Speaking during a high-stakes visit to Israel, as reported by The Guardian, Rubio also delivered a damning verdict on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), describing it as a "subsidiary of Hamas" that "cannot play a role in Gaza."

His remarks, delivered from a newly established U.S.-Israeli ceasefire coordination center, come amid a flurry of top-level American diplomatic activity aimed at shoring up a tenuous two-week-old truce and steering the region towards a more sustainable peace, even as the Trump administration simultaneously works to fend off a provocative and potentially destabilizing push by far-right Israeli lawmakers to annex the occupied West Bank.

Rubio's visit to the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, was part of a steady stream of senior U.S. officials traveling to the region to underscore the administration's deep investment in the success of the ceasefire.

As reported by The New York Times, President Donald Trump and his top aides remain concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could dismantle the agreement, which has paused a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and left most of the Gaza Strip in ruins.

"There’s going to be ups and downs and twists and turns, but I think we have a lot of reason for healthy optimism about the progress that’s being made," Rubio said, projecting a cautious but determined confidence.

The new coordination center is a tangible symbol of this intensified American engagement. Its establishment was announced earlier in the week by Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, who stated it was intended "to support stabilization efforts" and that 200 U.S. troops had begun to assemble it, though they would not be deployed inside Gaza.

Rubio confirmed that a growing number of "career-experienced State Department personnel" would be assigned to the center to work alongside their military counterparts, as well as experts from partner nations and non-governmental groups. "It’s important, and particularly over the next couple weeks, that we keep the cease-fire together," he told reporters before his trip.

The first phase of the peace plan, which was brokered with the help of U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, has been fraught with challenges but has thus far held.

The tenuous truce has seen the release of 20 living Israeli hostages and the return of the bodies of 15 deceased captives by Hamas, while Israel has freed nearly 2,000 imprisoned Palestinians. However, both sides have accused each other of breaches over a series of deadly incidents on the ground.

With the first phase of the deal—a ceasefire, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an influx of aid—now in a delicate state of implementation, attention is turning to the far more complex and politically explosive second phase.

This next stage is set to tackle the monumental issues of establishing an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilization force, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and, as Rubio made clear, the disarmament of Hamas.

The composition and mandate of the international force is a subject of intense negotiation. Under the ceasefire agreement, this force is to have robust powers to control security inside the battered enclave.

Following reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu was opposed to any Turkish involvement, Rubio clarified the American position, stating that the force will have to be comprised of countries that Israel is "comfortable with," a prerequisite that is likely to significantly narrow the pool of potential contributors.

"We haven’t formed that force yet, so there’s still work going on,” Rubio told reporters, as cited by The Guardian. "There’s a lot of countries that have offered to do it. Obviously as you put together this force, it will have to be people that Israel is comfortable or countries that Israel is comfortable with as well."

He also reiterated that the Trump administration might seek a formal mandate from the United Nations for this peacekeeping force, but he declined to give further details, particularly as many Arab states in the region have expressed a strong reluctance to send their troops into a situation where they might come into direct conflict with Hamas.

Beyond the immediate crisis in Gaza, the Trump administration views a successful and sustained peace as a catalyst for a much broader regional realignment. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Rubio stated that more countries are now ready to normalize relations with Israel, but that such a momentous decision would likely await a broader regional agreement contingent on the current ceasefire holding.

As reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Rubio said that a sustained end to the war would encourage more nations to join the so-called Abraham Accords, the landmark 2020 agreements under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco forged official ties with Israel.

"We have a lot of countries that want to join" the accords, Rubio said. "I think there are some countries you could probably add right now if you wanted to, but we want to do a big thing about it, and so we're working on it."

He added, "So I think that would be great, and I think that could be a byproduct of achieving some of this," directly linking the success of the Gaza truce to the potential for historic regional normalization.

While he did not mention specific countries, he hinted at significant progress, noting "there's some bigger than others." This was widely interpreted as a reference to Saudi Arabia, which had been engaged in U.S.-brokered talks on normalizing ties with Israel before the war broke out in October 2023.

The Gulf kingdom, home to Islam's two holiest sites, has since insisted it cannot normalize relations without clear progress toward an independent Palestinian state, a prospect long opposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

This grand vision of regional integration, which both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu see as a "crowning achievement," is precisely what makes the administration's stance on other regional issues so forceful.

The Trump administration has pushed back hard against moves by Israeli politicians to annex the West Bank, an action it sees as a direct threat to this broader peace process.

On Wednesday, far-right lawmakers in the Knesset took the highly provocative and largely symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill that would apply Israeli law to the occupied territory—a de facto move toward annexation. The move drew a swift and sharp rebuke from the highest levels of the Trump administration.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who was also in Israel this week, branded the vote a "very stupid political stunt," according to the BBC.

President Trump himself, in an interview with Time magazine, was even more forceful, insisting that annexation would not happen "because I gave my word to the Arab countries," and warning, "Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened."

Rubio echoed this firm stance, telling reporters before his trip that annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening to the peace deal."

He explained that such a move would make it impossible to assemble the necessary coalition of regional partners for the Gaza stabilization effort. "We don’t think it’s going to happen," he said on Friday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's office moved quickly to distance the government from the bill, which was put forward by opposition MPs, calling it a "deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord."

A statement from his office stressed that his right-wing Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox coalition partners did not vote for the bill, and that without their support, it is "unlikely to go anywhere."

This effort to manage the political fallout highlights the delicate balancing act Netanyahu himself must perform, caught between the demands of his ultra-nationalist allies and the unequivocal red lines being drawn by his most important international partner, the United States.

After meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, Rubio said that President Trump had made enforcing the ceasefire a "top priority" and that "we’re going to get there despite substantial obstacles."

This unwavering American focus, backed by the substantial leverage of being Israel's largest provider of military aid, is now the central driving force behind a peace process that remains fraught with peril.

With the future governance of Gaza, the role of an international force, and the ultimate fate of Hamas all on the table, the coming weeks and months will be a critical test of American diplomacy and the political will of all parties to move beyond a tenuous pause in fighting toward a truly sustainable peace.

As part of this diplomatic whirlwind, Rubio is set to join President Trump in Qatar before they fly to Asia for a series of leadership summits, a travel schedule that underscores the global and interconnected nature of the challenges at hand.