Rubio to offer Israel support despite Qatar strike

But Rubio, who met separately at the White House with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, will go ahead and leave Saturday for Israel. 

He will speak to Israel leaders about "our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

France will lead a UN summit on September 22 in which a number of Western countries plan to recognize a Palestinian state centered around the West Bank.

France, exasperated over Israel's massive offensive in Gaza, has rejected US and Israeli criticism and says there must be a new path for the Palestinians.

France, Britain and Germany on Friday also called for an "immediate" halt to a new Israeli offensive in which it aims to seize Gaza City, with the Europeans warning of mass civilian displacement and casualties in a territory which is already mostly in rubble.

The State Department said only that Rubio would discuss "operational goals and objectives" with Israel and show "the US commitment to Israeli security."

"He will also emphasize our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home," Pigott said, adding that Rubio will meet families of hostages.

The statement made no mention of the strikes in Qatar, in which Israel targeted Hamas leaders gathering to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by the Trump administration.

Trump called the attack unfortunate and said that the United States found out too late to stop it.

- Quiet on settlements -

Trump has repeatedly offered strong backing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, doing away with most of the public concerns, however cautiously expressed, of his predecessor Joe Biden. 

The State Department did not immediately confirm reports that Rubio would take part in the inauguration of a new tunnel in Jerusalem's Old City for visitors approaching the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews, which is also sacred for Muslims as the Al-Aqsa compound.

"Rubio's visit is nothing less than American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the most sensitive part of Jerusalem's Holy Basin, contradicting Washington's long-standing position since 1967," anti-settlement advocacy group Peace Now said in a statement.

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later annexed it and declared Jerusalem its indivisible capital, a step not recognized by most of the world. 

But Trump during his first term bucked the international consensus and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

The Trump administration has declined to criticize ramped-up Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Netanyahu vowed Thursday there would be no Palestinian state and "this place belongs to us" at a signing ceremony for a major settlement project. 

But Netanyahu has walked back from far-right calls for a wide annexation of the West Bank after warnings by the United Arab Emirates, which took the landmark step five years ago of normalizing with Israel.

Israel launched an all-out offensive in Gaza in October 2023 following a massive attack launched from the territory by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. 

Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 47 of whom remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable. 

The UN has declared famine in parts of Gaza, which Israel contests.

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