Overview of the Coordination Center
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it’s – this is an impressive center with a lot of important work that’s happening here. This is an historic mission, by the way. I mean, if you think about it, there’s nothing to model this after, because this has never happened before. I think we have a lot to be proud of in the first 10 days, 11 days, 12 days of implementation, where we have faced real challenges along the way, including over the weekend, but also an exciting opportunity.
So this will be a – the journey to sort of get through the 21 plan – points of the plan. To get to all the things that we’re trying to achieve is not going to be a linear journey. There’s going to be ups and downs and twists and turns. But I think we have a lot of reason for healthy optimism about the progress that’s being made.
Key Objectives and Challenges
Ceasefire and De-confliction
One of the reasons why I wanted to come today is sort of get a sense of the workflow, get a sense of the organization, and get a sense of the needs. It is increasingly why you see a lot of uniforms here, including some partner – nation-states that have come, of course, with the Israelis who are hosting us and be part of this. You’re starting to see more of a presence from State Department and related entities as well, and that’ll continue to grow as we can provide the personnel and things like emergency response, the coordination – the coordination of our humanitarian assistance and things of that nature. So you’re starting to see that presence here grow.
But a lot of good progress is being made on a number of fronts, and you can break this out in a number of ways. The first is the maintenance of the current ceasefire, of the current peace that we’re confronting, and that involves two things: number one, de-conflicting from any flashpoints that may come up. We need to understand, the world needs to understand, that on the other side of that yellow line there is still a terrorist group that remains armed, and we’ve seen them take actions against their own population. I think it’s important, by the way, that there be more media coverage given to the fact that Hamas has brutalized Palestinians, has brutalized Gazans over the last few days, and that’s something to point to. But all of that has to be managed to make sure that in addition to that that we don’t have any flashpoints that could derail the broader process.
Humanitarian Assistance
At the same side, the – at the same time, the coordination of humanitarian assistance, and there’s humanitarian assistance that is now flowing into those places beyond the yellow line. But that involves coordinating with all of these different organizations from around the world, including international organizations and charity groups. That’s a massive undertaking to coordinate all of that and that it be distributed safely.
That’s just beyond the yellow line. Behind the yellow line, there’s another effort going on in humanitarian assistance which is even broader, because those areas are safe. Those areas are secure. So that’s happening.
Building an International Stabilization Force
At the same time, it’s this work on creating an international stabilization force. It involves bringing together all the nation-states that are offering to provide personnel and resources, so structuring what that stabilization force will look like, lining up all the countries that are willing to provide either money or personnel or a combination of both, and then getting the right international mandate, whether it’s the UN or an international agreement, working through that to make sure that that entity – that security force – that can exist can function, is funded, understands what its mission is clearly, and can execute it effectively.
Long-Term Goals for Gaza
And then beyond that, of course, is the long term – the reconstruction, the rebuilding, the creating of conditions so that never again will we see what happened on October 7th, so that you can actually be in a place that no longer has elements operating within it that are a threat to Israel or to their own people, for that matter. And, of course, that’s a longer-term plan, and that’s something that’s also key to all of this. It’s the goal we’re all trying to get to.
But before we can get to that goal, we’ve got to get through the process that we’re involved in right now, which is making sure the ceasefire holds without anything disrupting it, making sure people are getting the life-sustaining aid that they need in a way that’s not being looted or stolen or diverted in any way, and at the same time creating the conditions for the stabilization force to come in, as soon as it possibly can be put together, to provide what we need – the stabilization we need – in order to move to the further phases of this plan.
Press Q&A: Key Issues Addressed
Marwan Barghouti Case
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can I ask about – President Trump in his Time interview talked about the case of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner, saying that he’s considering raising it. Do you want Israel to
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. I don’t have any news for you on that today. Obviously, we’ll work that through our embassy here and our diplomatic channels, but we don’t have anything to announce on that.
Israel’s Military Decisions
QUESTION: Secretary, first of all, welcome to Israel. Second, there has never been anything like this in Israel, but what do you think? Does Israeli military decision regarding Gaza are taken effectively in D.C.? And if the IDF will identify that Hamas is rearming and regrouping, can we independently renew the fighting on which you asked
SECRETARY RUBIO: I think everybody involved in this would like to see this not happen again. … I think the bottom line is that there’s no nation on Earth that’s contributed more to help Israel and its security. As you know, this is the President that, in the 12-day war, struck Iran in a way that other presidents were unwilling to do, and that partnership will continue. We’re very committed to Israel’s security and supporting Israel.
We’re also very committed – and we think it’s in Israel’s long-term security, and I think our Israeli partners agree – to be able to have a Gaza that is no longer an operating space for a terrorist organization. That’s why this plan calls for the demilitarization of Gaza, and that’s what we’re committed to.
International Stabilization Force and Hamas Disarmament
QUESTION: If you could address – following on your mention just now about disarming Hamas, is that something that the ISF force will be – would be engaged in? And if Hamas refuses to disarm voluntarily, is that something that this force would be involved in, forcing them to disarm?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well – yeah, if Hamas refuses to demilitarize, it’ll be a violation of the agreement, and that’ll have to be enforced. I’m not going to get into the mechanisms by which it is going to be enforced, but it’ll have to be enforced. I mean, this is a deal, and a deal requires conditions to be met. Israel has met their commitments. They’re standing at the yellow line, and that is contingent upon the demilitarization.
So suffice it to say that we’re also hopefully going to create conditions where people – where Hamas won’t have people because there’ll be ways – we want to see a Gaza where people can live without Hamas, where they have jobs, where they have prosperity, where they have opportunities. I’m not telling you that’s going to be set up next week, okay? That is a long-term project. But what I am saying to you is that we want to create the conditions here so that people in Gaza don’t have to be terrorized by Hamas and in fact have lives, jobs, businesses, and a better future and are completely uninterested ever again in joining, supporting, or being held captive by a terrorist group.
Hostages and Governance in Gaza
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the question I see from Israeli point of view … In the meantime, as you mentioned, every day Hamas is rearming, re-preparing, doesn’t give back our dead hostages. So the question is whether in the meantime the U.S. should let Israel to act on the other side of the Gaza Strip. In this way the ISF future work will also be easier.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, right now, there’s an agreement in place, right? And that requires both sides to live up to their commitments. If the commitment – if the deal – what you’re describing to me means the deal fell apart. But right now we’re not at that stage, and that’s what we’re trying to prevent. That’s why I’m saying to you we’re not going to forget about the hostages. We push every single day and we’ll continue to push until the remains of every single hostage is returned. Work is going on even as I speak to you now.
QUESTION: And the second question is about the technocratic government that would rule Gaza, the Palestinian government. We’re hearing from Hamas that they are a part of the committee that forms this government. Does that not miss all the point of what we’re doing here?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I think everyone talking about that’s getting way ahead of themselves. … Suffice it to say that everyone that signed on to this plan – all of these other countries agreed and everyone agreed that Hamas cannot govern and cannot be involved in governing the future of Gaza. Everyone’s agreed to that, okay, so that has to be part of this.
Composition of the Stabilization Force
QUESTION: It says – behind you, actually – in open-source reporting that the U.S. accepted Israel’s veto of Turkish forces in the ISF. Is that accurate? And can you provide any detail on that security force, how big it will be, who it will include, or any other
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we haven’t formed that force yet, so there’s still work going on. There’s a lot of countries that have offered to do it. Obviously, as you put together this force, it’ll have to be people that Israel is comfortable – or countries that Israel is comfortable with as well. … Suffice it to say that we are – plenty of countries that have offered and are interested in participating.
UN Role and UNRWA
QUESTION: On humanitarian aid, you mentioned that’s going to be coordinated through here. I wonder if you could say what the role of the UN will be, and specifically what role UNRWA might play in
SECRETARY RUBIO: UNRWA’s not going to play any role in it. … And the UN is here. The UN – we can – we’re seeing the work they’re doing, the World Food Program. There’s also not-profit NGOs, humanitarian assistance organizations that are involved in this – Samaritan’s Purse – so it’s a conglomeration of about eight to twelve groups that are here.
Regional Normalization and Abraham Accords
QUESTION: What could we expect in terms of future normalization deals after this ceasefire? We heard about Saudi Arabia; we heard about other countries. Is there anything you can tell to the Israeli people about the possible benefits of this deal going forward?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don’t think I need to explain to the people of Israel the benefits of normalization with more countries, especially regional countries – some of whom were on track to do so before October 7th happened and we were close. So I think you look at the Abraham Accords; we’ll be very open about the fact that we’d like to expand it and add more countries to that.
Source Information
This article is based on the Remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Southern Israel on October 24, 2025, issued by the U.S. Department of State.