Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that lasting peace in Gaza is impossible unless Hamas terrorists are fully stripped of their ability to threaten Israel, warning any agreement leaving the terror group armed would inevitably collapse.
Responding to questions about ceasefire negotiations and disarmament proposals, Rubio drew a firm line against partial measures that would allow Hamas to retain military capabilities.
"If Hamas is ever in a position to threaten or attack Israel, you're not going to have peace, Rubio said.
"Everyone wants peace," Rubio said in Friday's State Department press briefing. "No one wants a return to a war.
"If Hamas is ever in a position in the future that they can threaten or attack Israel, you’re not going to have peace, OK? You're not going to convince anyone to invest money in Gaza if they believe another war is going to happen in two to three years.
"So, I would just ask everyone to focus on what are the kind of weaponries and capabilities that Hamas would need in order to threaten or attack Israel as a baseline for what disarmament needs to look like.
"Because you're not going to have peace, if two years from now, Hamas is launching rockets or killing Israelis or carrying out, God forbid, another Oct. 7-type terrorist attack and so forth, you're not going to have peace.
"So, who is going to invest in a peace, who is going to invest in rebuilding a place, that's going to get destroyed again in a future war?
"So that's why disarmament is so critical."
While declining to discuss specific negotiation details, Rubio framed disarmament as the central prerequisite for moving beyond the current ceasefire toward lasting security. He said the precise scope of disarmament will be determined by technical teams, but the objective is clear.
The secretary described the current ceasefire as fragile and labor-intensive, noting that compliance requires constant monitoring and intervention from multiple governments.
"This is not easy; peace is [not] a verb; it's not; it's an action," Rubio added. "It's not a sentiment. Every single day will bring challenges. Every single day.
"We also have had instances, for example, over the last couple weeks where Hamas elements emerged from a tunnel, attached an explosive device to the side of a vehicle, and injured and almost killed Israeli soldiers.
"We still have this threat. We still have and see every single day Hamas openly taking steps to strengthen themselves inside of those places in Gaza that they still control.
"We saw early on the atrocities they were committing in the streets against people as they were trying to show people how strong they were."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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