Rubio says Hamas must be eliminated as armed group before Gaza can see peace

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says “every single hostage, both living and deceased,” must be home immediately, and that Hamas “can no longer continue to exist as an armed element that threatens the peace and security, not just of Israel, but of the world.”

Gazans deserve a better future, he says, but that can’t begin “until Hamas is eliminated and until all of the hostages, both living and deceased, are home.”

US President Donald Trump remains “committed firmly” to those goals, he says.

Rubio stresses that Iran’s missiles and nuclear program threaten not only Israel and the US, but also Gulf allies and Europe.

He says a nuclear Iran is an “unacceptable risk” for the world. Trump, he says, will continue the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

He blasts Hamas’s “unparalleled barbarism” on October 7 and in the war since then, and says the Gazan people cannot have peace or a better future without Hamas “eliminated” and all hostages returned home.

Rubio expresses excitement about opening “perhaps one of the most important archaeological sites in the planet” later this evening in the City of David, “one that has deep meaning to so many people in the United States.”

He will formally open a Second Temple-era pilgrims’ road to the Temple Mount.