US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will offer robust support to Israel on a trip timed before French-led moves for a Palestinian state, the State Department said Friday, despite US unease over Israel's airstrike in Qatar.

President Donald Trump will meet over dinner with Qatar's prime minister on Friday, the White House said, after he gently chided Israel for the attack Tuesday on Hamas in Qatar, a key US military and diplomatic partner.

But Rubio, who met separately at the White House with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, will go ahead and leave Saturday for Israel.

He will speak to Israel leaders about "our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

France will lead a UN summit on September 22 in which a number of Western countries plan to recognize a Palestinian state centered around the West Bank.

France, exasperated over Israel's massive offensive in Gaza,........

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