United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the UAE rejects “any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land” as Rubio made a visit Wednesday to Abu Dhabi.
UAE state media reported the comments and said the president highlighted the need to prevent an expansion of the conflict in Gaza.
“He also underscored the importance of linking Gaza’s reconstruction to a path that leads to a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution, as the only manner of ensuring stability in the region,” the report said.
Arab leaders have rejected plans suggested by U.S. President Donald Trump that Palestinians leave Gaza for other countries in the region, and that the U.S. take over and rebuild the Palestinian enclave.
Rubio’s visit was part of a multi-nation tour that also included talks with leaders in Israel and in Saudi Arabia, which came as the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip moved into its final weeks.
Hostage release
A top Hamas leader said Tuesday that the militant group plans to release six more living Israeli hostages from their Gaza captivity on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday.
Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya made the surprise announcement in a recorded statement, an apparent response to the Israeli decision to allow long-requested mobile homes and construction equipment into the Gaza Strip.
The six living hostages are the last set to be freed under the first phase of the ceasefire that expires in early March, with Hamas believed to be holding about 70 more captives, half of them living. Four more bodies of hostages are set to be returned next week.
So far during the ceasefire, Hamas has released 24 hostages, and Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The warring sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase of their truce, in which Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting halt to the fighting and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel has not backed off its goal, supported by the United States, of eradicating any military or governing role for Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Tuesday that Israel was ready to open negotiations on the details of the second phase. Those talks were supposed to have started two weeks ago, according to the ceasefire deal.
In his remarks, Hayya said the "Bibas family" would be included in the handover of the four bodies, apparently referring to Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who for many Israelis embody the captives' plight.
Israel has not confirmed their deaths, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office urged the public not to distribute "photos, names and rumors." Israel has said it was gravely concerned about the Bibas family, while Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war. Yarden Bibas, the husband and father, was kidnapped separately and released this month.
Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time, was the youngest hostage taken in Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered 15 months of fighting. Video footage of the abduction showed Shiri swaddling her redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men.
"In recent hours we have been shaken after the Hamas spokesman's announcement was published about the return of our Shiri, Ariel and Kfir this coming Thursday as part of the movement to release kidnapped civilians,” the family said in a statement. “It is important for us to say that we are aware of the reports but have not yet received an official update on the matter.”
“Until we receive certainty, our journey will not end,” the family said.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu had agreed to allow the mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza to accelerate the hostages' release. Hamas last week threatened to hold up the release of more hostages, citing the mobile home issue and other alleged violations of the truce.
Israel is expected to continue releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks, in exchange for the hostages.
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group, killed about 1,200 people in the October 2023 attack and took about 250 as hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals, while eight were rescued in military operations.
Israel's air and ground war killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says the death toll includes 17,000 militants. The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced most of its population of 2.3 million.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
