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Secretary Rubio Takes Questions After Touring the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel, Oct. 24, 2025

October 24, 2025 · U.S. Department of State · 0:23:21

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took questions from the press after touring the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in southern Israel on October 24, 2025, roughly two weeks into implementation of the Gaza peace plan, according to the State Department broadcast.

He described the center as an historic mission with nothing to model it on, and broke the work into fronts: holding the ceasefire and de-conflicting flashpoints; coordinating humanitarian assistance on both sides of the yellow line; building an international stabilization force — its contributing countries, funding, mandate and command still being structured; and, long-term, reconstruction so Gaza can never again host elements that threaten Israel or its own people. Hamas, he said, remains an armed terrorist group beyond the yellow line that “has brutalized Palestinians” in recent days, and aid must reach people “in a way that’s not being looted or stolen or diverted.”

On enforcement, his line was direct: “There is no plan B. This is the best plan. It’s the only plan.” If Hamas refuses to demilitarize, he said, “it’ll be a violation of the agreement, and that’ll have to be enforced” — noting Israel is standing at the yellow line contingent on that demilitarization, and that over two dozen countries, including Arab and majority-Muslim states, signed on to the commitment of a demilitarized Gaza. He said the return of hostages’ remains “is going to happen” and is pushed daily. On the future force, he declined to discuss any country’s veto but said every member must be one Israel is comfortable with. On aid, he ruled out one agency outright: “UNRWA’s not going to play any role in it. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas,” while the UN’s World Food Programme and NGOs such as Samaritan’s Purse are on the ground among roughly eight to twelve groups. He had no update on the Marwan Barghouti case raised by reporters.

A State Department clip of the demilitarization answer (t1HtgyDnbag) is recorded as an alternate source for this page.

Why it matters

The CMCC session is the Gaza plan’s implementation doctrine in the Secretary’s own words at its coordination headquarters: demilitarization as an enforceable condition rather than an aspiration, UNRWA excluded by name, and the stabilization force’s shape — contributors, mandate, Israeli comfort — defined as the work of the center he had just toured.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the commitments as stated on October 24, 2025 — Hamas’s demilitarization to be enforced as a condition of the agreement, the remains of all hostages to be returned, and no role for UNRWA in the aid effort. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio After Tour of Civil-Military Coordination Center” (official upload, embedded above; southern Israel). Remarks as delivered 2025-10-24; transcript reviewed in the site’s private research store; full transcript at state.gov.