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‘90% done’: Marco Rubio on deal to end Gaza war as Donald Trump calls it ‘great’ for Israel
According to Marco Rubio, Hamas had "basically" agreed to US President Donald Trump's proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the deal with Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages is “90 per cent done”, while President Donald Trump called it a “great deal for Israel”.
According to Rubio, Hamas had "basically" agreed to Trump's proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages, while meetings were underway to coordinate the logistics of that.
“90 per cent of this has been worked out and we are just sort of finalising the logistical piece,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying.
He also said that Hamas has agreed “in principle” to plan for the aftermath of the end of the Gaza war with Israel, which has been raging on for two years.
"They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what's going to happen afterwards. A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there," Rubio told NBC's Meet the Press.
Rubio said that the US would know "very quickly" whether Hamas was serious or not during the current technical talks to coordinate the release of the hostages.
“Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on, hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back to the yellow line,” he told NBC.
The yellow line is where Israel stood within Gaza in the middle of August.
Donald Trump's warning to Hamas
Donald Trump said Hamas will face "complete obliteration" if the Palestinian militant group refuses to give up power and control of Gaza as he seeks to implement his plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
When asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on board with ending the bombing in Gaza and supporting the United States' broader vision, Trump told CNN on Saturday, "Yes on Bibi."
In the interview that aired on Sunday, Trump added that he expects to soon know whether Hamas is committed to peace.
