VIDEO: Rubio takes up Qatar strike unease with Netanyahu

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Monday with ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ‘Israel'’s vital ally voices unease over air strikes on Qatar that threaten to derail already flailing attempts to reach a Gaza ceasefire.

Rubio scheduled a solidarity visit a week before a French-led summit at the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state, a prospect fervently opposed by Netanyahu's right-wing government.

But talks will instead be more difficult as President Donald Trump's administration was caught off guard last week when ‘Israel’ carried out an attack in Qatar against Hamas leaders who were meeting to discuss a new US ceasefire proposal for Gaza.

Trump, for years a fervent defender of Netanyahu, on Sunday again voiced support for Qatar, which is home to the largest US air base in the region and has assiduously courted the US president, including by gifting a luxury jet.

"Qatar has been a very great ally. Israel and everyone else, we have to be careful. When we attack people we have to be careful," Trump told reporters.

Rubio, who will later address the press with Netanyahu, said as he left Washington on Saturday that "obviously we're not happy" about the strike but added: "Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next".

Rubio said he would speak to Netanyahu about ‘Israeli’ military plans to seize Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the devastated territory, as well as the government's talk of annexing parts of the occupied West Bank in hopes of precluding a Palestinian state.

Rubio said Trump wants the Gaza war to be "finished with" -- which would mean the release of captives and ensuring Hamas is "no longer a threat".

“Eternal capital”

The United States has not joined European powers in pressing ‘Israel’ to end the offensive, who fear it will aggravate the already severe humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where most of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the outbreak of the war.

Despite the objections over the Qatar strike, Rubio opened the visit on Sunday with another show of support as he joined Netanyahu at the Buraq Wall (Western Wall).

With Rubio at his side, Netanyahu said the ‘Israel’-US alliance has "never been stronger" and is "as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched".

Rubio, a devout Catholic, later posted that his visit showed his belief that Jerusalem is the "eternal capital" of ‘Israel’.

Until Trump's first term, US leaders had shied away from such overt statements backing ‘Israeli’ sovereignty over contested Jerusalem, which is also holy to Muslims and Christians.

Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, in a sharp break with most of the world.

Hamas called Rubio's visit a "blatant assault on the sanctity" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Muslim sacred site above, and a "flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem".

Controversial tunnel

Rubio separately is expected Monday to attend the inauguration of a tunnel for religious tourists that goes underneath the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan to the holy sites.

The project has stirred fears among Palestinian residents that it could further dilute their presence, allowing ‘Israelis’ to bypass Palestinians and possibly putting at risk the physical foundations of their homes.

Rubio played down the political implications, calling it "one of the most important archaeological sites in the world".