Marco Rubio slams Hamas as "pure evil," calls for its total eradication 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday reiterated his call for the complete eradication of Hamas, arguing that peace in the Middle East is impossible as long as the terrorist group remains in control of Gaza.

Speaking in an interview with SiriusXM radio ahead of his diplomatic visit to the region, which includes a stop in Israel later this week, Rubio emphasized that Hamas not only detains hostages under brutal conditions but also subjects them to public humiliation upon their release.

“You look at these images of what they – first of all, the humiliation that they have to go through. Just put aside for a moment the horrifying conditions they were kept and the horrifying things that happened to some of those hostages, on top of the fact that these were innocent civilians…These are just people that were abducted for purposes of being used as leverage. And they’re getting, what, 200 certified killers in exchange for one innocent hostage. But it reveals who Hamas is,” the Secretary of State said.

“Look at this humiliation they put them through before they’re released, where they do these big public displays of force. Do any of those Hamas fighters look like they’ve been skipping meals? Do any of those Hamas fighters that you see look like they’ve been suffering over the last year and a half? Clearly, these people are – the ones suffering are the people from Gaza, but not them. And then the conditions they’re held in. So, it’s incredibly revealing about what we’re dealing with.”

“Hamas,” Rubio said, “is evil. It’s pure evil. These are monsters. These are savages. That’s a group that needs to be eradicated.”

He added: "And let me tell you, if they still are the dominant power in Gaza when all this is done, there is not going to peace in the Middle East, as long as a group like Hamas physically controls territory and is the most dominant power in Gaza or anywhere in the Middle East,” he continued. “And I hope people can see who these people actually are, in the condition of these hostages – not just the conditions that they’re in when they’re released, but what they have to endure on the way out.”

Asked whether the two-state solution is still a policy of the US, Rubio replied, “Well, the big challenge for this whole two-state solution has not been Israel. It’s been: Who’s going to govern that second state? Who’s going to be in charge of it? If the people in charge of it are Hamas or Hezbollah or anybody like that, whose goal is the destruction of the Jewish state.”