U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that war in Gaza has not yet ended despite Israel and Hamas both agreeing to parts of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the conflict-shattered Palestinian strip as the parties prepared for crucial talks in Egypt on implementing the plan.
“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” Rubio told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” about the release of hostages from Gaza.
The top American diplomat also asked Israel to stop strikes on Gaza for release of hostages to take place.
“I think the Israelis, and everyone acknowledge you can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS News talk show Face the Nation.
“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”
.@SecRubio: For the first time in this entire endeavor, you have the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, all these European countries lined up behind a plan putting tremendous pressure to make it happen. @POTUS is the one putting that together.” pic.twitter.com/QbbFeda4El
— Department of State (@StateDept) October 5, 2025
Hamas had drawn a welcoming response from Trump on Friday by saying it accepted certain key parts of his 20-point proposal, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal, and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian captives.
Trump has described his pace plan for Gaza as great for everybody.
“It’s a great deal for Israel and it’s a great deal for everybody… It’s a great deal for the entire Arab world, Muslim world, and world.”
But the group left some issues up for further negotiation at talks in Egypt, as well as questions unanswered, such as whether it would be willing to disarm, a key demand from Israel to end the war.
Israeli negotiators led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will travel to Egypt on Monday for talks on the release of hostages, a day before the war’s second anniversary, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The talks will be held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
.@POTUS on his plan for peace in Gaza: “It’s a great deal for Israel and it’s a great deal for everybody… It’s a great deal for the entire Arab world, Muslim world, and world.” pic.twitter.com/tDiPb06qQf
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 5, 2025
An official briefed on the talks said the negotiations will focus on hammering out a comprehensive deal before a ceasefire can be implemented.
“This differs from earlier rounds of negotiations which followed a phased approach, where the first phase was agreed and then required more negotiations to reach subsequent phases in the ceasefire,” the official was quoted by British media.
“These subsequent rounds of negotiations is where things broke down previously and there is a conscious effort among mediators to avoid that approach this time around.”
Rubio told ABC’s “This Week” that a timeline for finalizing a deal to release the hostages was uncertain but that talks “cannot take weeks or even multiple days. We want to see this happen very fast.”
Hamas agrees to US Gaza ceasefire plan, release hostages, wants talks on some parts
The plan has stirred hopes for peace among Palestinians but there was no letup of Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday as planes and tanks pounded areas across the enclave, killing at least 19 people, local health authorities said.
Four of those killed were seeking aid in the south of the strip and five were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City in the early afternoon, they said.
Under Trump’s plan, all Israeli hostages, alive and deceased, would be released. Israel says 48 hostages remain, 20 of whom are alive.
Trump said on Friday he believed Hamas had shown it was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and he called on Netanyahu’s government to halt airstrikes in Gaza.
Free the hostages. End Palestinian Hamas.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian Hamas kidnapped 251 people.
Today, 48 hostages remain trapped in its dungeons — cut off from their families, their lives, their freedom.In order to end the war, Palestinian Hamas must be dismantled.… pic.twitter.com/L8bT8BY3dZ
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 5, 2025
The latest hopes for a ceasefire come as the grim anniversary of the war approaches. Israel began attacking Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign, which has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, has led to its international isolation.
Since the war erupted two years ago, it has widened the war theater of conflict, forcing countries to rethink their geopolitical and geostrategic policies.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
