Rubio Says Hamas ‘Must Be Eradicated,’ Throwing Gaza’s Ceasefire Into Further Doubt

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday fully endorsed Israel’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the shaky ceasefire into further doubt.

Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza and redevelop it under U.S. ownership.

Netanyahu has welcomed the plan, 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 hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the 16-month war.

Their remarks came two weeks before the ceasefire’s first phase is set to end. The second phase, in which Hamas is to release dozens of remaining hostages 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,” he said. “It must be eradicated.”

Such language could complicate continued talks with Hamas, which remains in control of Gaza despite suffering heavy losses in the war.

Rubio is also set to visit regional heavyweights the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli military meanwhile said it carried out an airstrike Sunday on people who approached its forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the strike killed three of its policemen while they were securing the entry of aid trucks near Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

Resuming the war could doom hostages

Protesters demand that Israel and Hamas maintain their ceasefire agreement so that the remaining hostages in Gaza are released, in Tel Aviv, on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.OHAD ZWIGENBERG VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Resuming the war could be a death sentence for the remaining hostages and may not succeed in eliminating Hamas, which reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire took hold last month.

Netanyahu has signaled readiness to resume the war after the current phase and has offered Hamas a chance to surrender and send its top leaders into exile.

Hamas has rejected such a scenario, and spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told The Associated Press the group accepts either a Palestinian unity government or a technocratic committee to run Gaza. The group insists on Palestinian rule.

Hamas last week threatened to hold up the latest release of hostages because Netanyahu has yet to approve the entry of mobile homes and heavy machinery into Gaza as required by the ceasefire agreement, before proceeding with the release Saturday based on what it called assurances from Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt.

King Abdullah II of Jordan (L), U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Trump wielded threats to cut off aid in a bid to get Egypt and Jordan to accept forcibly expelled Palestinians.AARON SCHWARTZ/CNP/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

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.

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.”

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