Voice of America News reports: “The U.S. fully endorsed Israel’s war aims in Gaza on Sunday, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that Hamas ‘must be eradicated’ and ‘cannot continue as a military or government force.’

Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour as the first phase of a tenuous Israel-Hamas ceasefire expires in two weeks, with the second segment yet to be negotiated.

Rubio, on his first trip to the Middle East as the new top U.S. diplomat, told Netanyahu that ‘as long as [Hamas] 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.’…”