The U.S. and Russia are talking about the war in Ukranian

Read Time:5 Minute, 5 Second

The Defense Ministry of Israel’s War for the Reformation of the 2023 Gazan War and the Return of the Hostage Prisoners

Israel’s defense ministry says since the deadly Hamas on Israel attack in 2023, it has received more than 678 airlifts and 129 sea shipments of military equipment to date.

He spoke after Israel received a shipment of bombs from the United States that can cause widespread destruction. The shipment had been frozen by the Biden administration due to concerns of use in densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza.

“We’re in a position to change the Middle East,” he said, adding that the possibilities that loom before Israel today are unique. “They have never been available to us at the same time as they are right now, and we intend to pursue them to the full.”

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the U.S.-Israeli alliance under Trump, telling reporters that he and Rubio talked about how to “complete the change in the Middle East.”

The exchange is part of a truce between Israel and Hamas that’s due to expire in two weeks and the Trump administration wants it to continue until all hostages are returned.

A dual American-Israeli citizen was freed by Hamas in a swap for more than 300 Palestinians, including hundreds of prisoners, and three Israeli hostages. Some of the Palestinians were held for convictions of violent crimes, but many others were held without charge and released back to Gaza.

Follow-up of Israeli and Israeli Warfare to the Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Context: Rubio’s First Visit to the Middle East

Neither was invited to participate in the Saudi talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Kyiv would not recognize any agreements made in its absence.

While in Saudi Arabia, Mike Whack and others are also meeting with a delegation from Russia, led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov. The Kremlin says the talks are meant to lay the ground for a meeting between Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“What cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again, and wind up in the exact same place,” he said. “Hamas can’t continue as a military or government force.”

In Israel, Rubio described Iran as “the single greatest force of instability in the region.” While Trump’s plan to take over Gaza surprised many, it’s what’s on the table for now.

If Iran is deterred by the United States and Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah will be weakened and Lebanon will be kept out of harms way in the Syrian civil war.

Two years ago, Saudi Arabia was close to establishing ties with Israel and the Crown Prince has described the war between Israel and Gaza as genocide,mirroring widespread public sentiment in the region. Militants led by Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage that day, according to Israeli authorities. The war has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Trump’s vision of a Gaza Strip owned by the United States and refashioned into a “Riviera” of the Middle East, with all its Palestinian residents displaced to other countries, will need Arab buy-in, particularly from wealthy Gulf Arab states. Pressure could be applied to Egypt and Jordan, as Donald Trump has said that Palestinians should be permanently relocated from Gaza.

This is Rubio’s first visit to the Middle East as secretary of state, and began with a stop in Israel. There, his team pushed for negotiations to begin for a second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza. A delegation from Israel headed to Cairo on Monday to prepare for the talks that are expected to occur two weeks from now. Talks about the second phase were supposed to begin Feb 3 according to the ceasefire deal.

The talks grew out of the phone conversation between President Trump and Russian leader Putin in which both agreed to work together to end the war.

The U.S. team also includes national security adviser Mike Waltz and, notably, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff met with Russian officials in Moscow as recently as last week to negotiate a prisoner exchange that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel.

“It was a very serious discussion on all questions that we wanted to touch on,” said Ushakov, adding that both sides agreed better relations were in the interests of both Washington and Moscow.

The sudden U.S.- Russian detente has stunned U.S. allies who fear they will lose out in talks that determine their futures.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia is looking for a resolution of the “Hostage Diplomacy” with the Russian Embassy in the early 1990s

The Kremlin confirmed Monday that it had agreed to the release of an American caught at a Moscow airport with cannabis in his luggage, in a sign of the new spirit of cooperation.

Basketball starBrittney Griner and the school teacher Fogel were both sentenced for similar charges during the Biden years. They were among several Americans jailed by Russia on dubious charges in what the Biden administration said was a pattern of Russian “hostage diplomacy” to promote prisoner swaps.

They say we should probably give territorial concessions, but what do you think? “So ethnic Russians who live there can be destroyed?” alluding to alleged atrocities by Ukrainian troops that have not been independently verified.

President Trump has said that peace was dependent on Ukraine ending NATO ambitions, as well as giving up its territory to Moscow.

Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, tells NPR he expects Trump’s America First agenda means the U.S. president has little interest in the specific terms of a settlement.

“Trump wants to end the war,” said Markov, adding that beyond that “the only thing which Trump is concerned about is his image. He has a strong image. He shouldn’t look like a loser.

Trump has been invited to visit Moscow by Putin. It has caused speculation that Trump and Putin may meet on Red Square, when Russia commemorates the 80th anniversary of World War II.