Tunde Sulaiman 
Israel’s prime minister has said he is working to make US President Donald Trump’s plan to remove and resettle Gaza’s population “a reality”.
Benjamin Netanyahu said he was cooperating with the US on a “common strategy” for Gaza after a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem yesterday.
He said he and Rubio had discussed ways to implement Trump’s vision, which would also see the US take control of Gaza. Rubio said the plan may have “shocked and surprised” people, but that it took courage for Trump to propose an alternative to “tired ideas” of the past.
Rubio is visiting Israel on his first tour of the Middle East as the US’s top diplomat.
He is also due to meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia in coming days for potential peace talks on the war in Ukraine – a meeting that neither Ukraine nor other European countries have been invited, reports the BBC.
Speaking at a joint news conference on Sunday, Rubio and Netanyahu outlined areas of agreement, including a desire to eradicate Hamas’s governing capacity, prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, and to monitor developments in a postAssad Syria.
