Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday and has said that the Trump administration is considering seeking a mandate from the United Nations for an international security force to be deployed in Gaza.
Mr. Rubio will be the latest in a string of top American officials to visit Israel in hopes of shoring up a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, Mr. Rubio said it was “important” for the United States to help “keep the cease-fire together.” The deal has come under strain from a recent flare-up of violence in Gaza and lingering tensions over the exchange of deceased Israelis and Palestinians.
The truce is based on a proposal, outlined by President Trump in September, which also envisioned a “temporary International Stabilization Force” in Gaza. The idea was for that force to secure the areas where Israeli troops have withdrawn, prevent munitions from entering the territory, facilitate the distribution of aid and train a Palestinian police force.
But several countries have been skittish about the idea of contributing troops to such a force because its exact mission in the devastated Palestinian enclave is unclear, and because of concerns that it might bring troops into direct conflict with Hamas fighters.
Mr. Rubio said that “going to the U.N. potentially and getting the international mandate” was a step toward “building the international defense security forces.”
He was expected to land in Israel shortly after Vice President JD Vance leaves the country — back-to-back visits by top U.S. officials that underscore the administration’s keen interest in preserving the cease-fire. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, have also been in Israel this week.
Mr. Trump visited the country earlier this month to celebrate the cease-fire agreement. But several Trump administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, have recently said there was concern within the administration that Mr. Netanyahu might vacate the deal.
Before departing for Israel, Mr. Rubio also said that American diplomats will soon be assigned to monitor the fragile cease-fire at a new civil-military coordination center in southern Israel.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” said Mr. Rubio. “But we certainly wanted to make sure that we were there and ensuring that we had the right people in place at the coordination center, which is key to holding this all together.”
Mr. Vance, who visited that coordination center earlier this week, said the administration knew that it was “not going to be easy” to secure a lasting peace.
Several thorny issues have yet to be addressed — including a stipulation in the president’s 20-point peace proposal that calls for the disarming of Hamas, which the militant group has long opposed.
The cease-fire agreement that went into effect earlier this month led to an Israeli military pullback within Gaza, and saw the last 20 Israeli hostages held in the enclave exchanged for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
It faced fresh challenges this week from Israeli lawmakers, who approved a preliminary measure for the annexation of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a move that is explicitly prohibited under the terms of Mr. Trump’s peace plan.
On Wednesday, Mr. Rubio said he did not support Israeli annexation of the territory and called the measure “potentially threatening to the peace deal.”
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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