Rubio will travel to Israel after Vance's visit to ensure fragile Gaza
ceasefire holds
[October 23, 2025]
By RENATA BRITO and MATTHEW LEE
JERUSALEM (AP) — As U.S. Vice President JD Vance's visit to Israel comes
to a close, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would be
traveling to the country to keep the momentum on the U.S.-brokered
ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military
coordination center in southern Israel where some 200 U.S. troops are
working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other
countries planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.
Rubio told journalists at Joint Base Andrews late Wednesday that he
plans to visit the center and appoint a Foreign Service official to work
alongside the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, Vice Adm.
Brad Cooper.
The U.S. is seeking support from other allies, especially Gulf nations,
to create an international stabilization force to be deployed to Gaza
and train a Palestinian force.
“We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza that are not Hamas
and that are going to do a good job, but those still have to be trained
and equipped," he said.
Rubio also criticized efforts by far-right politicians in the Israeli
parliament who on Wednesday took the symbolic step of giving preliminary
approval to a bill that would give Israel authority to annex the
occupied West Bank — a move the U.S. opposes.
President Donald Trump "has made clear that’s not something we’d be
supportive of right now, and we think it’s potentially threatening to
the peace deal,” he said.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether the bill has
support to win a majority in the 120-seat parliament, and Netanyahu has
tools to delay or defeat it.
Vance visits Holy Sepulcher
Meanwhile, Vance visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the sprawling
12th century basilica where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died
and rose again, in Jerusalem’s Old City.
He is then expected to meet Israel’s Defense Minister, Israeli military
leaders and other officials at the army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.
On Wednesday, Vance sought to ease concerns that the Trump
administration was dictating terms to its closest ally in the Middle
East.
“We don’t want in Israel a vassal state, and that’s not what Israel is.
We want a partnership, we want an ally,” Vance said, speaking beside
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a reporter’s question
about whether Israel was becoming a “protectorate" of the U.S.
Netanyahu, who will meet with Rubio as well, expressed similar
sentiments while acknowledging differences of opinion as they push
forward the U.S.-proposed ceasefire agreement.
Israeli media referred to the nonstop parade of American officials
visiting to ensure Israel holds up its side of the fragile ceasefire as
“Bibi-sitting.” The term, utilizing Netanyahu’s nickname of Bibi, refers
to an old campaign ad when Netanyahu positioned himself as the
“Bibi-sitter” whom voters could trust with their kids.
Palestinians in Gaza in dire need of medical care
In the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10,
the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday they had
evacuated 41 critical patients and 145 companions out of the Gaza strip.
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President Donald Trump listens as Secretary of State Marco Rubio
speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in
the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In a statement posted to X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on
nations to show solidarity and help some 15,000 patients who are
still waiting for approval to receive medical care outside Gaza.
His calls were echoed by an official with the U.N. Population Fund
who, on Wednesday, described the “sheer devastation” that he
witnessed on his most recent travel to Gaza, saying that there is no
such thing as a “normal birth in Gaza now.”
Andrew Saberton, an executive director at UNFPA, told reporters how
difficult the agency’s work has become due to the lack of
functioning or even standing health care facilities.
“I was not fully prepared for what I saw. One can’t be. The sheer
extent of the devastation looked like the set of a dystopian film.
Unfortunately, it is not fiction,” he said.
Saberton added that Palestinian women cannot get access to a
hospital. “They often don’t even have access to a private space in a
tent. We have stories of women giving birth actually in the rubble,
beside the road,” he said.
Court hearing on journalists' access to Gaza
Separately on Thursday, Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing into
whether to open the Gaza Strip to the international media and gave
the state 30 days to present a new position in light of the new
situation under the ceasefire.
Israel has blocked reporters from entering Gaza since the war
erupted on Oct 7, 2023.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents dozens of
international news organizations including The Associated Press, had
asked the court to order the government to open the border.
In a statement after Thursday's decision, the FPA expressed its
“disappointment” and called the Israeli government's position to
deny journalists access “unacceptable.”
The court rejected a request from the FPA early in the war, due to
objections by the government on security grounds. The group filed a
second request for access in September 2024. The government has
repeatedly delayed the case.
Palestinian journalists have covered the two-year war for
international media. But like all Palestinians, they have been
subject to tough restrictions on movement and shortages of food,
repeatedly displaced and operated under great danger. Some 200
Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire, according
to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“It is time for Israel to lift the closure and let us do our work
alongside our Palestinian colleagues," said Tania Kraemer,
chairperson of the FPA.
___
Lee reported from Washington. Josef Federman in Jerusalem and
Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.
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