The U.S. State Department said Rubio's visit to the Middle East is imminent

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia to hold talks on Gaza. This was reported by the press service of the US State Department on February 12.

"He will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on February 15-18," the press service said.

It is specified that the Secretary of State plans to discuss further steps for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Rubio's meetings with senior officials "will advance U.S. interests in promoting regional cooperation, stability and peace." The U.S. secretary of state's train will focus on the release of American and all other hostages and progress toward the second phase of a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Trump has proposed taking over the Gaza Strip and evicting Palestinians. What the media is saying

Earlier on February 9, US President Donald Trump said that his plan to rebuild housing in the Gaza Strip does not imply that refugees will be able to return to their homeland. He clarified that he meant "building a permanent place of residence for them." According to him, it will be years before it will be possible to live in Gaza again. In turn, on February 11, Hamas called Trump's statements a manifestation of racism and a call for ethnic cleansing. Hamas postponed the release of the hostages, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.

Back in late January, Trump announced the possibility of resettling refugees from the Gaza Strip in Egypt and Jordan. The proposal involves the potential relocation of up to 1.5 million people, he clarified. In this way, they would be guaranteed safety, he said. Later, on February 5, during a press conference, he announced Washington's plans to take control of Gaza. On the same day, The Wall Street Journal learned about Trump's conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the summer of 2024, during which the American leader said it was possible to create "prime real estate" in Gaza.

Egypt or Jordan have repeatedly rejected the idea of accepting large numbers of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian Ambassador to Russian Federation Abdel Hafiz Nofal said the Palestinian side opposes the US president's proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Arab countries. Iran called Trump's proposal ethnic cleansing. Also the US president's initiative was criticized by Qatar and Turkey.

The ceasefire regime in the Gaza Strip began to operate in the morning of January 19. At the same time, the Palestinian movement Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The next day, Israel released the first 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal. The hostage exchange continues.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.