Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed optimism Sunday that a deal between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza could finally be reached, saying it is «the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.»
But the top U.S. diplomat also cautioned that nothing is a done deal, saying there are key components of the peace plan put forth by President Donald Trump that still need to be worked out, caveating, «there’s a lot of pitfalls along the way.»
«This is the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released, every single one, all 48 including the 28 who are deceased,” Rubio told ABC News’ «This Week» co-anchor Martha Raddatz. «But there’s a lot of pitfalls along the way. There’s some work to be done here.»
Rubio said that «some of the technical talk» was already ongoing, and stressed that the U.S. believes speed is paramount, especially for what he described as the first phase of this deal: returning the hostages to Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears on ABC News’ «This Week» on Oct. 5, 2025.
ABC News
«[President Trump] wants to see it happen quickly. This is not something that can drag out. We cannot be here three weeks from now, still discussing, you know, the logistics of how hostages are going to be released. That has to happen very quickly in order for the rest of this deal to gain momentum,» Rubio said.
He continued, «Our hope is that by the time our team gets to Cairo, 90% of this has been worked out, and we’re just sort of finalizing the logistical piece. We’d like to see it done yesterday.»
Mediators are set to begin further negotiations between Israel and Hamas on Monday in Egypt, the country’s foreign ministry said. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will be part of the U.S. team participating in the talks.
Keith Siegel, an American-Israeli who was held hostage by Hamas for 484 days and released Feb. 1, told Raddatz in a separate interview on «This Week» that he is also optimistic.
«I’m always optimistic, but until all of my four friends that I met in captivity … and all of the 48 hostages, until they are all released and back home with their families, I still continue my mission to advocate for their release,» he said.
«They’re in a life-threatening situation. They are suffering for almost two years, and we must bring them back,» Siegel added.
Here are more highlights from Rubio’s interview:
Rubio outlines two «phases» of hostage, peace deal
Phase number one, which Hamas has accepted, is the president’s framework for release. The hostages are released and Israel pulls back to what’s been called the yellow line, roughly where they were in August of last year. And that exchange happens. And that’s the first phase of these talks, because you have to work through the logistics of that. …
The second phase of this conversation, and they can be happening simultaneously, is what happens after that. What happens after Israel pulls back to this line? What happens with this international group that’s going to come in and create a governance structure, an international governance structure led by technocrats, Palestinian technocrats, etc.? That’s the part that I think is going to be a little tougher to work through, but that’s what’s going to provide permanency to the end of the conflict. So we’re focused on those two phases.
On conditions needed to secure hostage release
Popular Reads
Rubio: You can’t have an exchange of hostages, you can’t, you know, obviously bring them out if bombs are going off and active combat is occurring. And fortunately, as you saw, the Israelis have announced that they have now suspended all offensive operations in the region, with the exception of like, addressing an imminent threat. You know, someone’s coming towards them with what they think might be a suicide vest —
Raddatz: There were bombings last night.
Rubio: — Address that.
Raddatz: There were bombings last night in Gaza City
Rubio: Well, then we have to look into that — yeah — well, again, we have to look [at] exactly what those operations were. But ultimately, yes, you cannot have an exchange and if there’s active combat ongoing, you just can’t do it. I mean, for the safety of the hostages and for the Red Cross or whoever it is that’s going to go in there and be a part of this exchange. You have to set the conditions. The Israelis have said that they would only deal with imminent threats. So we’ll look into any of that because that’s going to be a key component. Obviously, we have to make sure Hamas is also doing their part in this regard. But, there are a lot of opportunities here for whoever wants to sabotage it to do so. And that includes Hamas by the way.
On Hamas not yet agreeing to disarm
Raddatz: President Trump also said that Hamas cannot pose a threat again. They have not talked about part of this deal, which is disarming.
Rubio: Yeah. Look, that’s going to be a key component of that second phase we just discussed. As long as — as long as there’s a threat emanating from Gaza against Israel security, be it Hamas or some successor organization, as long as there are people, organizations inside of Gaza who possess rockets, build tunnels, want to kidnap, murder and rape, Israeli citizens and attack Israel, there isn’t going to be peace. …
If there is a threat emanating from Gaza, you’re not going to have peace here that’s sustainable. So that has to happen, that demobilization has to happen. And clearly, Hamas is an organization that we do not believe can be a part of that because of their history — their very purpose for existence is to threaten the Israeli state. So that’ll have to be addressed in the second phase. And it’s going to be a tough piece of it, no doubt about it. But if we truly want enduring peace, anyone who is in favor of enduring peace should be in favor of demobilization of Hamas or any other armed terrorist organization that seeks to operate from Gaza.
On any potential stalling by Hamas
I would say we all have to be clear eyed about this, right? There are conditions that have to be met here. If two weeks from now, a week from now, whatever, it’s clear that the hostages aren’t going to be released and they’re playing games, then I think the president stated what our position is going to be. …No one here is claiming this is done. What we are claiming is that we have moved a — so we are in a much better place today than we were seven days ago. A lot could happen wrong here, but so much could happen right if we can get this done and we’re very dedicated to making that happen. … I’m optimistic it will happen, but it won’t be easy.
