“Not enough attention” is being paid to the hostages still being held by Hamas, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In response to a question by Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow asking if Israel’s potential decision to fully militarily take over Gaza is a wise one, Rubio said that “ultimately the president [Trump] has said that it’s up to Israel to decide what they need to do for their own security."
"I’ve spoken often — almost daily — to somebody in the Israeli government, often to the prime minister but many times to many members of his team," he added.
There are three “interrelated” problems regarding Gaza, Rubio went on to explain.
“The first is there is a humanitarian problem that needs to be addressed. We’re working very hard to figure out ways to address it in ways that doesn’t benefit Hamas but that allows people to be fed and prevents a further humanitarian problem there that we’re seeing now,” Rubio stated. “The second is that there are 20 innocent human beings that are being held hostage in horrifying conditions. And the third is that as long as Hamas exists, there will not be peace. There cannot be a permanent peace. It’ll restart again if Hamas remains.”
“A lot of attention” is currently being placed on the humanitarian issue of Gazans needing food; the U.S. wants to help in any ways it can, Rubio added. However, “not enough attention is being paid to the fact that 20 people that had nothing to do with this are being held hostage in tunnels on the verge of death, and no real talk about how Hamas needs to be disarmed and disbanded. We have to focus more on those two things.”
“You have to do all three, and all the talk is about humanitarian — which is important; we are willing to do a lot to be helpful there — but we have to focus on the other two. Those other two cannot be forgotten. And it’s all — the president has said he wants all the hostages out — not five, not seven, all of them, including the deceased hostages. And ultimately, Hamas cannot continue to exist. Even the Arab League says it. As long as Hamas exists as an armed group in Gaza, there will not be a...peaceful future, because it’s going to happen again. And that can’t — this can never happen again,” Rubio concluded.
Hamas has been seen, in open source videos, stealing aid that Israel is providing to Gaza.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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