Rubio to visit Middle East after Trump proposal for US to take over Gaza

7/2/2025 15:12

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and Arab states in mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first trip to the Middle East after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza.



Rubio will travel to the Munich Security Conference and to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from February 13-18, the senior State Department official said late on Thursday.



Rights groups have condemned Trump's suggestion that Palestinians in Gaza should be permanently displaced as part of a U.S. takeover of the enclave.



Rubio said on Wednesday that Palestinians in the enclave will have to relocate in the "interim" while it is rebuilt following the Israel-Gaza war.



The U.S. official said Rubio would discuss Gaza and the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel during the trip, and would pursue Trump's approach of trying to disrupt the status quo in the region.