In a Senate hearing on 20 May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, ‘No, there’s no deportation of Palestinians from Gaza to Libya. What we have talked to some nations is about voluntary moving.’
On 23 May, Rubio issued a statement to Judge Brian Murphy, a federal judge who intervened to halt the deportation of a planeload of migrants last week, saying his intervention upended the US government’s quiet diplomatic efforts with South Sudan, Libya and Djibouti, interfered with counter terrorism operations in Africa and could make it tougher to deliver humanitarian aid to eastern part of the continent. Rubio said Libya had been secretly negotiating with the US to take deportees, but had now had to publically reject the idea. He also claimed the judge’s action emboldened anti Dabaiba forces in Tripoli, sparking the recent clashes.