Smiling Marco Rubio Credits Peace Deal to Trump’s ‘Extraordinary Phone Calls’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised President Donald Trump for the “extraordinary phone calls” that led to a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire. Trump estimated that Israeli hostages would be free as soon as Monday.

Trump plans on visiting the Middle East in an effort to close the deal. During Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Rubio offered a behind-the-scenes look at the work he has been doing the last few days to get to this point:

It really began with your trip to the Middle East, where these relationships were forged with partners in the region — personal relationships, close relationships — that created the foundation where all this was possible. Where I think this really took a turn — remember, a month ago, I never thought this was possible.

What really took a turn about a month ago, less than a couple of weeks ago, is when we were at the United Nations and you convened a historic meeting — not simply of Arab countries, but of Muslim-majority countries from around the world, including Indonesia was there, Pakistan was there — and created this coalition behind this plan.

Then, on that following Monday, you met with the Prime Minister of Israel here, and that plan was presented. And then, of course, our great negotiating team followed up on it. In the interim — again, perhaps the stories will be told, perhaps they will never be told — the president had some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment, and made this happen.

Watch above via Fox News.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to remove an erroneous line that read, “As part of the deal, both parties agree to return hostages.”