Rubio talks about international forces in Gaza.. what about the aid?

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed optimism that the United Nations Security Council will issue a resolution regarding Gaza that supports the deployment of an international security force.

Rubio told reporters after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Canada, "We feel optimistic. I believe we are making good progress in drafting the resolution, and we hope to take action on it very soon."

The U.S. Secretary added that the United States is talking to various countries about ways to balance its interests here and how to organize that beyond the security force.

Rubio pointed out that deploying an international force in the Palestinian territory is crucial to allow more aid to enter and to marginalize Hamas.

He continued, "If you really want to see significant improvement, not just in humanitarian aid but in reconstruction, you will need security."

In a related context, Rubio expressed concern that the impact of the latest waves of violence carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank could undermine the U.S.-backed ceasefire efforts in Gaza.

In response to a question about whether events in the West Bank could jeopardize the ceasefire in Gaza, he said, "I hope that doesn't happen... We don't expect that. We will do everything we can to ensure that it doesn't."

This international force is one of the items included in the Trump plan, which formed the basis for the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas since October 10 of last year, which ended a devastating two-year war.

The conflict resulted in the deaths of more than 68,000 Palestinians and injured over 170,000, most of whom were women and children, while about 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure in the sector was destroyed.

Earlier, Israeli media reported that U.S. officials proposed the establishment of the base in discussions with the Israeli government and military, and began surveying potential sites around Gaza.

According to a request sent to contracting companies, as reported by Bloomberg, the proposal includes a temporary and self-sustaining military operations base capable of accommodating 10,000 personnel, as well as providing 10,000 square feet of office space for 12 months.

Bloomberg noted that the U.S. move comes as part of its efforts to form a stabilization force from other countries to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli media reported that Israeli officials stated that the planned base would include several thousand soldiers tasked with maintaining the ceasefire.

They also considered that the base would represent a significant escalation in U.S. activity in Israel and would be the first large-scale American military facility in the occupied territories.