'If someone has a better plan that's great' In a radio interview last week, Rubio indicated that Trump's proposal was in part aimed at pressuring Arab states to come up with their own postwar plan that would be acceptable to Israel, which says Hamas can have no role in Gaza. He also appeared to suggest that Arab countries send in troops to combat Hamas. If someone has a better plan, and we hope they do, if the Arab countries have a better plan, then that's great," Rubio said Thursday on the Clay and Buck Show.

But Hamas has guns, he added. Someone has to confront those guys. It's not going to be American soldiers. And if the countries in the region can't figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it and then we're back to where we've been.

Rubio was not scheduled to meet with any Palestinians on his trip.

Arabs have limited options as Israel has rejected past plans For Arab leaders, facilitating the mass expulsion of Palestinians or battling Palestinian militants on behalf of Israel are both nightmare scenarios.

Either would open them up to fierce domestic criticism and potentially destabilise an already volatile region.

Egypt says it will host an Arab summit on Feb 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza to be rebuilt without removing its population.

Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.

Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century-old peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of American influence in the region.

Arab and Muslim countries have until now conditioned any support for postwar Gaza on a return to Palestinian governance with a pathway to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Biden administration spent months rallying regional powers behind such plans, but they fizzled as Israel ruled out not only a Palestinian state but also any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power there in 2007.

Hamas has said it is willing to relinquish power in Gaza but insists on Palestinian rule.

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