US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has fully endorsed Israel’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the future of the shaky ceasefire into further doubt.
Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in West Jerusalem on Sunday at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip and redevelop it under United States ownership, a plan that human rights organisations have called ethnic cleansing.
“The president has also been very bold, not the same tired ideas of the past but something new,” Rubio told reporters.
Netanyahu welcomed the plan, also referring to it as “bold”, and said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza’s future.
Echoing Trump, he said “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas does not release dozens of remaining captives abducted in its October 7, 2023 attack that preceded the war.
The leaders’ remarks came just two weeks before the first phase of the ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, is set to end. The second phase – in which Hamas is to release dozens of remaining captives in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces – has yet to be negotiated.
Rubio said Hamas “cannot continue as a military or government force”.
“As long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible,” Rubio said. “It must be eradicated.”
Such language could complicate efforts to continue talks with Hamas, which, despite suffering heavy losses in the war, remains intact and in control of Gaza.
The US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday that talks on the second phase of the ceasefire would continue this week, after he had “very productive and constructive” calls with Netanyahu, as well as Egypt’s director of intelligence and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
“[We spoke about] the sequencing of phase two, setting forth positions on both sides, so we can understand… where we are today, and then continuing talks this week at a local to be determined so that we can figure out how we get to the end of phase two