Rubio in Qatar after warning of ‘short window’ to secure Gaza ceasefire

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has landed in Qatar, the only country he said can mediate an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, shortly after warning that just a “short window” remains to secure a ceasefire as Israel  said it has started the main part of a ground operation to seize Gaza City shirtly after his departure.

Rubio arrived in Doha on Tuesday, a week after Israeli carried out strikes against Hamas leaders in the country, drawing international condemnation.

His visit comes a day after Gulf states pledged to activate a joint defence pact as Arab and Islamic leaders stood in solidarity against Israel’s attack during an emergency summit in Qatar.

En route to Doha, Rubio told reporters that he would urge Qatar to continue playing a “constructive role” in the negotiations, following the Israeli attack which the Gulf nation called “cowardly and treacherous”.

“Obviously they have to decide if they want to do that after last week or not, but we want them to know that if there’s any country in the world that could help end this through a negotiation, it’s Qatar,” he said.

But Rubio warned that time was running out to secure a deal as Israel intensified its bombardments of Gaza City, killing dozens in the urban centre and destroying numerous residential buildings, as it pushes forward with plans to seize the besieged territory.

“The Israelis have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months any more, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go,” Rubio said.

“Our number one choice is that this ends through a negotiated settlement where Hamas says, ‘We’re going to demilitarise, we’re no longer going to pose a threat,’” repeating his stance on Monday in Israel that the Palestinian group needed to “cease to exist”.

Rubio, who is due to meet the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, also said the US and Qatar are close to finalising an enhanced defence cooperation agreement.

The US secretary of state visit to Qatar comes at a critical time of friction in the wake of the Israeli attack.

On Monday, Rubio affirmed the US’s unwavering support for Israel at a news conference in West Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Later that day, after Netanyahu refused to rule out another strike on Qatar to assassinate the Hamas leaders, US President Donald Trump insisted in the Oval Office that “he [Netanyahu] won’t be doing that again”.

Still, Rubio told reporters that the US and Qatar have a “close partnership”.

“In fact, we have an enhanced defence cooperation agreement, which we’ve been working on, we’re on the verge of finalising,” he said.

Speaking from Doha on Tuesday, media’s Charles Stratford said there were still “a lot of unanswered questions” after Rubio’s trip to Israel.

“The optics of yesterday, I think it is safe to say, will be pretty shocking for people across this region,” he said, citing Rubio’s hugging of Netanyahu.

Israeli attack on Qatar

In an emergency summit in Doha on Monday, the leaders from Arab and Muslim countries pledged in a joint statement to take action to prevent Israel from its attacks on Palestinians.

The statement also urged states to review “diplomatic and economic relations with it [Israel], and initiate legal proceedings against it”.

But as the summit condemned the attack inside Qatar and Rubio claimed there was not much time for a ceasefire deal, attacks rang out throughout the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Gaza City’s central urban hub was “on fire”.

“We will not relent, and we will not back down until the mission is accomplished,” Katz said.

At least 24 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning, and more were wounded in Israeli air attacks across Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported. The majority of those casualties were women and children.