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Marco Rubio said that the world will soon get to know whether Hamas is serious or not about releasing the hostages.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Reuters Image)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said that ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel are not yet the end of the war, adding that details on what would happen after that still need to be worked out.
While speaking at NBC’s Meet the Press, Rubio said that the world will soon get to know whether Hamas is serious or not about releasing the hostages as part of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
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“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” Rubio told the news outlet about the release of hostages from Gaza.
He said that the militant group has “basically” agreed to Trump’s proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages, while meetings were underway to coordinate the logistics of that.
“They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what’s going to happen afterwards. A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there,” he said as quoted by the news outlet.
He said that the topmost priority would be the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back.
“Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back” to the yellow line – where Israel stood within Gaza in the middle of August – Rubio said.
He described the second phase of the long-term future of Gaza as “even harder.”
“Everyone has agreed, including Israel, that eventually, at some point here as this process plays out, Gaza will be governed by a Palestinian technocratic group that’s not Hamas, that are not terrorists, with the help and the assistance and the guidance of an international consortium like the board of peace,” Rubio said, echoing the language of the proposed peace plan.
At the same time, Rubio said, “You can’t set up a governance structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days.”
“I mean, it takes some time,” he said.
Speaking later to Fox News, Rubio said that nothing was certain. “No one can tell you it’s a 100 percent guarantee,” he said.
Hamas’s Partial Acceptance Of Trump’s Proposal
Hamas said on Friday that it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, and expressed willingness to negotiate through mediators on Trump’s 20-point plan for peace.
“President Trump’s statements on the immediate cessation of Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip are encouraging,” Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu told AFP.
“Hamas is ready to immediately begin negotiations to achieve a prisoner exchange, end the war and ensure the withdrawal of the (Israeli) army from the Gaza Strip,” he added.
On Friday, Trump had said that Hamas must agree to the proposed peace deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught. The territory of some two million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state, according to Associated Press.
The death toll in the nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war has passed 67,000 Palestinians, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry. The death toll jumped after the Ministry said it added more than 700 names to the list whose data had been verified.
Tuesday would mark the second anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on October 7, 2023, with the Hamas-led militant attacks on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted. Of the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, Israel believes that 20 are still alive.
(With inputs from agencies)
About the Author
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
October 05, 2025, 19:56 IST
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