US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media after visiting the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Southern Israel on October 24, 2025. FADEL SENNA / AP

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio voiced hope Friday, October 24, of soon putting together an international force to police the ceasefire in Gaza, as Palestinian factions agreed that a committee of independent technocrats would run the post-war territory. The secretary of state visited Israel on the heels of Vice President JD Vance as part of an all-out effort by the United States to persuade both Hamas and Israel to respect the truce.

Rubio said it was critical for the deal to create "the conditions for the stabilization force to come in as soon as it possibly can be put together."

He expressed optimism for a durable end to the two-year Gaza war as he met Israeli, US and other Western forces monitoring the ceasefire from inside a vast converted warehouse in southern Israel.

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