Trump admin issues BIG statement on Gaza: 'War not over yet, priority is...'

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said the war in Gaza had not yet ended and described the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas as the first phase of the US' peace plan. He said Hamas had agreed to US president Donald Trump's framework for releasing those in captivity and that meetings were ongoing to coordinate the logistics. His comments come as Trump has released a 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which has been welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and partly accepted by Hamas -- the militant group that governs the Palestinian territory.

What did Marco Rubio say on Gaza plans?

Rubio said the first priority was the freeing of all remaining 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." He described the further phases of the peace plan as "even harder." Rubio said: "What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line, and potentially beyond that, as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that's not Hamas? All that work, that's going to be hard, but that's critical, because without that, you're not going to have lasting peace."

When and why did war begin in Gaza?

Gaza has been torn by a two-year war that began after Hamas launched an attack two years ago, in October 2023, killing at least 1,219 Israelis and taking many others hostage. After that, Israeli PM Netanyahu ordered a massive offensive into Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 66,000 Palestinians (mostly civilians), displaced lakhs of others, and triggering a famine in the region.