US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed this Friday from the new Civil Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip, that Hamas will not have any involvement or govern the Gaza Strip in the future.
“Hamas cannot govern or be involved in any future government in Gaza,” he said.
And he added: “We need to understand, the world needs to understand, that on the other side of that yellow line (the area where the Army has withdrawn inside Gaza) there is still an armed terrorist group that we have seen acting against its own population.”
In making that reference, Rubio was referring to when Hamas terrorists clashed with rival militias and publicly executed seven men in the Gaza Strip.
Images circulating on social media showed a shocking scene in which seven men were publicly executed. In the video, the victims are seen forced to kneel on the ground, their hands tied behind their backs, while several terrorists with their faces covered—some wearing headbands with Hamas symbols—watch closely. After a few tense seconds, gunshots are heard and the men fall to the ground.
The mass murder took place in front of an excited crowd shouting “Allah Akbar” (God is great) and accusing the victims of being “ collaborators,” while numerous people recorded the scene with their mobile phones.
According to Reuters, the authenticity of the video was confirmed by a Hamas source. This operation occurred as the terrorist group mobilized around 7,000 members of its security forces to strengthen internal control over areas of Gaza recently abandoned by Israeli troops.
In another order, Rubio also said that the possible annexation of the West Bank occupied by Israel would now pose “a threat to the peace process,” which is being carried out through the agreement promoted by them in the Gaza Strip.
“If something like this were to happen right now, many of the countries involved in this would probably not want to get involved anymore. It's a threat to the peace process, and everyone knows it, but I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of Israeli policy. We're focused on peace and security,” he said.
The UN warned that the truce between Israel and Hamas is"extremely fragile."
In other news, the UN deputy envoy for the Middle East, Ramiz Alakbarov, said on Thursday that the ceasefire in Gaza represents a “rare opportunity” to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but warned that the truce is “fragile” and “precarious.”
"Without decisive support for reconstruction and aid delivery, the region risks sliding back into violence," Alakbarov told the Security Council, adding that the truce is"extremely fragile" and that "a return to conflict must be avoided at all costs."
The diplomat praised the mediation efforts of the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, calling the ceasefire “a crucial step forward” that must be consolidated “through restraint and cooperation.”
Alakbarov also urged the immediate return of the remains of the deceased hostages and requested that humanitarian aid be brought into the enclave on a large scale to address the"enormous and urgent needs" of the population.
