Netanyahu and Rubio stick to established Israeli-US narrative on Gaza war

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have held further talks cementing the countries’ close alliance, as the Arab-Islamic summit of regional leaders gathered in Doha to denounce the unprecedented attack on Qatar last week, for which the Israeli leader took “full responsibility”, as well as next steps in the punishing war on Gaza.

The two officials had a two-hour meeting at Netanyahu’s West Jerusalem office on Monday, after which they held a joint news conference in which the Israeli leader said the two countries will continue to act together to protect each other. “Rubio’s visit is a clear message that America stands with Israel in the face of terror,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu claimed there is “immense hypocrisy” among those who criticised Israel over the strike on Qatar, even though US President Donald Trump was one of them. He again said Israel will hit Hamas “wherever they are”.

Rubio leaned heavily into the Israeli narrative on the war, saying, “Hamas needs to cease to exist as an armed element that can threaten peace and security in the region.”

The top US diplomat said “we are focused on what happens next” when asked about Israel’s strike in Doha.

The show of unity comes a day after Rubio and Netanyahu visited the Western Wall along with US envoy Mike Huckabee and praised strong bilateral relations.

media’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said: “The main takeaway from the press conference here was that no new information was presented to the public regarding the attack on Gaza, regarding Israeli military expansion and regarding Israel’s attack that has now been widely condemned and criticised internationally in the Qatari capital, Doha.”

“Netanyahu didn’t exactly say he would rule it out in the future, but he didn’t confirm or deny the results of that attack. Rubio was shying away from condemning it. He said they’re just trying to find a path forward, they don’t want to focus on the past but focus on the future,” she added.

The United Nations Human Rights Council announced on Monday that it would host an urgent debate on Tuesday regarding Israel’s “recent military aggression” in Qatar.

The council said it received two official requests for the debate – one from Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the other from Kuwait on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The meeting will mark the council’s 10th urgent debate since its creation in 2006.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed the findings and resolutions of the council on Israeli abuses, including one that urged all states last year to cease selling or transferring arms to Israel, given the carnage in Gaza. Israel and the US boycotted the UN council earlier this year.

Israeli-induced famine in Gaza

In Gaza on Monday, four fetuses and three premature babies died in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli siege and man-made starvation.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 422 people, including 145 children, have died due to the ongoing hunger crisis. Since the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last month that officially declared famine in parts of Gaza, at least 144 deaths have been recorded, including 30 children.

Israeli bombs continue to rain down on Gaza City in the north, including its residential buildings, with dozens more Palestinians killed on Monday as Israel carries on with the systematic destruction of the area.

لحظة قصف الاحتلال بصاروخين لبرج الغفري السكني في مدينة غزة، ما تسبب بتدميره بالكامل. pic.twitter.com/tvkIPmrc9v

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 15, 2025

[Translation: The moment the occupation bombed the al-Ghafri residential tower in Gaza City with two missiles, causing its complete destruction.]

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Monday he wants to build a luxurious seashore neighbourhood with high-rise buildings for Israeli police officers over the ruins of Gaza.

“We will finish the mission, occupy Gaza, encourage voluntary emigration,” he said, according to Israeli media outlets.

The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza on Monday requested an urgent meeting with the army chief, Eyal Zamir, after he said Netanyahu has kept the military in the dark about the next steps after seizing Gaza City, and that occupying the area would not lead to the political and military surrender of Hamas.

‘Stop Trade With Settlements’ campaign

Amid Israel’s advancing plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, the United Kingdom-founded Oxfam International was among 80 civil society organisations that launched a new “Stop Trade With Settlements” campaign on Monday, demanding that countries ban all trade with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including by major multinational companies like Maersk, Siemens, and Barclays.

The organisations said in a statement that their campaign targets settlement trade specifically “because of Israel’s ongoing and escalating oppression of Palestinians in the West Bank [including East Jerusalem], fragmentation of its economy, and undermining of the viability of a future Palestinian state“.

During his visit to Israel, Rubio is expected to attend the inauguration of a controversial tunnel project for religious tourists that goes underneath the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan to the holy sites.

The project has stirred fears among Palestinian residents that it could further dilute their presence and possibly put at risk the physical foundations of their homes.

Fakhri Abu Diab, 63, a community spokesman in Silwan, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency that Rubio should instead visit homes, such as his, that have been demolished by Israel in what Palestinians see as a targeted campaign to erase them.

“Instead of siding with international law, the US is going the way of extremists and the far right and ignoring our history,” he said.

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