Rubio due in ‘Israel’ as US tries to shore up Gaza ceasefire

Chief US diplomat Marco Rubio was due in ‘Israel’ on Thursday, the latest Washington official to visit as President Donald Trump's administration kept up efforts to cement the fragile truce between ‘Israel’ and Hamas in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance warned during his own visit that the United States and its allies faced a tough task disarming Hamas and building a peaceful future for the Gaza Strip.

Vance met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the second day of a trip to ‘Israel’, part of a diplomatic blitz in support of the US-brokered plan to end the fighting, recover captives and, eventually, rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.

"We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza, to make life better for the people of Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel," Vance said.

Secretary of State Rubio was due in ‘Israel’ on Thursday and would meet Netanyahu on Friday, an ‘Israeli’ government spokeswoman said.

Vance had kicked off the three-day visit on Tuesday by opening the Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) in southwest ‘Israel’, where US and allied troops will work with ‘Israeli’ forces to monitor the truce and oversee aid to Gaza.

Turkish troops?

"A lot of our Israeli friends are working together with a lot of Americans to actually mediate this entire ceasefire process, to get some of the critical infrastructure off the ground," Vance said, after talks with Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Vance pointed to the "international security force" as one of the bodies that would have to be set up.

Under US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan, this military mission would keep the peace in Gaza as ‘Israel’ withdraws.

Several US allies from the Arab and Muslim world are considering joining the force, but no US troops would be on the ground inside Gaza.

Reports that ‘Israel's’ outspoken critic and regional rival Turkey could provide troops have rattled Israeli opinion.

Netanyahu said decisions on the new security force would be made in discussion with the United States.

But on the potential for any role for Turkey role he said: "I have very strong opinions about that. You want to guess what they are?"

“Great optimism”

The ‘Israeli’ premier, who has been criticised by some domestic opponents for accepting the US-backed ceasefire before Hamas was fully destroyed, defended the deal.

"We've been able to do two things. Put the knife up to Hamas's throat. That was the military effort guided by Israel," Netanyahu said.

"And the other effort was to isolate Hamas and the Arab and Muslim world, which I think the president (Trump) did brilliantly with his team. So those two things produced the hostages," he said.

As Vance met the ‘Israelis’, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an "advisory opinion" reminding ‘Israel’ of its responsibility to provide Palestinians with the basic needs essential to survival and to permit UN agencies to operate in Gaza.

‘Israel’ rejected the ruling, and foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein branded it "yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of 'International Law'."