On 24th October, U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited an Israeli center led by U.S. forces in Israel to manage the Gaza ceasefire, with the Trump administration attempting to establish an international security force in the area and reinstate the fragile truce between Hamas and Israel.
Rubio became the most recent to visit the center as a top U.S official to coordinate with their civilian and military activities. U.S. Vice President JD Vance had visited it earlier this week, where he had announced its opening, and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the president, were also in Israel.
Approximately 200 American soldiers are collaborating with the Israeli army and representatives of other nations at the center to stabilize and reconstruct Gaza. An Associated Press reporter was present there on Friday and noted international workers with flags of Cyprus, Greece, France, Germany, Australia, and Canada.
Rubio said, “I believe that there is much that we have to take pride in during the first 10 days, 11 days, 12 days of implementation, where we have had actual challenges on our way.”
The U.S ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, was appointed to head the civilian portion of the coordination center in southern Israel. Adm. Brad Cooper of the U.S. Central Command is the best military leader in the center.
The US is trying to win over other allies, particularly those in the Gulf Arab region, to form an international stabilization force that would be sent to Gaza and train a Palestinian force.
Rubio claimed that the U.S officials were in the process of drafting possible language to get a United Nations mandate or other international authorization of the force in Gaza, since some of the possible participants would need it before they could participate. He stated that most countries had shown interest, and choices must be made regarding the rules of engagement.
He explained, “Such a country should understand what they are getting into, what their mandate is, what their command is, under what authority they will be functioning, who will be in charge, and what their work is.” He also mentioned that Israel must be at peace with the participating countries.
Thursday was the day of a meeting between Rubio and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli media has called the American officials flocking to their country to ensure that the ceasefire is not derailed as “Bibi-sitting”. The name is based on the nickname of Netanyahu, Bibi, who had an old campaign advertisement, in which he appeared as the “Bibi-sitter”, who could be trusted by the voters with their children.
Palestinians who had been attempting to restore their lives have gone back to ruins in Gaza City.
“Homes are hustling to get a place to stay, tying up rags to lie on with no blankets or cutlery.
There was no other place that I could find. And I am sitting in front of my house, so where can I go? Before the rubble, I look at my home daily and mourn over it, yet what can I do?” This is what Kamal Al-Yazji said and lit a sponge to make coffee in Gaza City.
His three-story house, which was home to 13 individuals, has been burnt, leaving his family to stay in a temporary tent. Said they are getting bitten by mosquitoes and wild dogs, and they can hardly afford to eat as their banknotes are so battered that the shopkeepers will not take them.
When Umm Muhammad al-Araishi entered the Gaza City neighborhood where she lived before the war, she was searching to find something that she could recognize: Rantisi hospital. However, Israel had severely destroyed the hospital and the surrounding buildings because it had declared the region a war zone to the extent that little was familiar.
Rubio, told Friday, that a coalition of as many as a dozen entities would participate in the relief efforts in Gaza, among them the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. There would, however, be no role for the U.N. aid agency in Gaza, which is called UNRWA.
“The United Nations is present here; they are on the ground, and we are willing to collaborate with them provided they can render it to work”, said Rubio. “But not UNRWA. UNRWA is an agency that was turned into a Hamas subsidiary.”
The International Court of Justice earlier this week stated that Israel has to grant entry to UNRWA so that it can extend humanitarian services to the Palestinian region.
Since March, Israel has not given permission to UNRWA to import its supplies. However, the agency still works in Gaza, where it manages health centers, mobile medical teams, sanitation services, and school classes for children. It claims to have 6,000 supply trucks that are on a waiting list.
Netanyahu and his right-wing supporters have criticized the agency, claiming that the organization is highly penetrated by Hamas.
