WASHINGTON, Sept 13 — US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, will fly to Israel this weekend amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

State Department deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott said yesterday that Rubio would depart today to visit Israel before joining up with Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.

Rubio in Israel will emphasise Washington and Israel’s shared goals, Pigott said in a statement, citing the need to ensure Hamas never rules Gaza again and the return of hostages taken in the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by militants that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s nearly two-year-long campaign in response has killed more than 64,000 people in the Palestinian enclave, according to local authorities. It has sparked a hunger crisis and led to allegations that Israel is committing genocide, including this month by the world’s biggest group of genocide scholars.

Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House yesterday, underscoring the competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Al-Thani was also set to meet Trump later on Friday.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha on Tuesday, in what US officials described as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.

The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.

Rubio’s visit comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month, where countries including France and Britain are expected to recognise Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.

Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state.

The United Arab Emirates warned last week that doing so would cross a red line and undermine the US-brokered Abraham Accords that normalised UAE-Israel relations in 2020.

Rubio and Israeli leaders will discuss “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism, and lawfare at the ICC and ICJ,” Pigott said.

He was referring to the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest, and the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide.

Ahead of his trip, Rubio met with families of hostages held by Hamas yesterday, a State Department spokesman said. — Reuters