Rubio says US focused on first phase of ceasefire, adds there’s much ‘reason for healthy optimism’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls coordinating the ceasefire in Gaza “a historic mission,” saying Washington and its partners are working to sustain the truce, deliver aid and prepare for the International Stabilization Force, a multinational peacekeeping force, to enter the territory.

“This is a historic mission,” he says at a press conference in the building housing the US-Israel Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, which oversees the ceasefire in Gaza, adding that implementing the plan is “not going to be a linear journey. 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,” he says.

Rubio says there is an increasing presence of staff from the US State Department “and related entities” at the center, which “will continue to grow” to “provide personnel on things like emergency response and the coordination of humanitarian assistance.”

He says that, in order to get to the next phases of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, the center is focused on ensuring the success of the initial phase of the ceasefire.

“We’ve got to get through the process that we’re involved in right now, which is making sure the ceasefire holds without anything disrupting it, making sure people are getting the life-sustaining aid that they need in a way that’s not being looted or stolen or diverted in any way, and at the same time, creating the conditions for the [International] Stabilization Force to come in as soon as it possibly can be put together to provide the stabilization we need to move to the further phases of this plan.”

He adds that “on the other side of that yellow line,” in areas of Gaza that the IDF withdrew from under the terms of the ceasefire, “there is still a terrorist group that remains armed, and we’ve seen them take actions against their own population,” referring to Hamas.

He speaks about the work being done to create the planned International Stabilization Force for Gaza — structuring it, lining up the countries providing money and/or personnel, and “getting the right international mandate” for that “security force.” And beyond that, he says, is creating the conditions for rebuilding Gaza and ensuring no threat to Israel or to Gazans.

He urges “that there be more media coverage given to the fact that Hamas has brutalized Palestinians, has brutalized Gazans over the last few days. That’s something to point to.”