JERUSALEM, Feb 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
vowed on Sunday to "open the gates of hell" in Gaza if Hamas does not return 
all hostages, pointing to a joint US-Israeli strategy to take on the 
Palestinian militants.

"We have a common strategy, and we can't always share the details of this 
strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened, as 
they surely will if all our hostages are not released until the last one," 
Netanyahu said in a joint statement with visiting US Secretary of State Marco 
Rubio.

"We will eliminate Hamas's military capability and its political rule in 
Gaza," the statement added. "We will bring all our hostages home, and we will 
ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.

"The unequivocal support of the United States on Gaza will help us achieve 
these objectives faster and set us on a path for a different future," 
Netanyahu said.

He added that he discussed with Rubio US President Donald Trump's "bold 
vision for Gaza's future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a 
reality".

Trump recently suggested that the US take over the Gaza Strip and turn it 
into a "Riviera of the Middle East", while resettling the territory's two 
million Palestinian residents in other countries, namely Egypt and Jordan.

The proposal has triggered global outrage.

Rubio on Sunday acknowledged that Trump's proposal for Gaza "may have shocked 
and surprised" many.

But he said "the president's also been very bold about his view of what the 
future for Gaza should be, not the same tired ideas of the past, but 
something that's bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision.

"What cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again 
and wind up in the exact same place," Rubio said. "Hamas cannot continue as a 
military or a government force... they must be eliminated... it must be 
eradicated."

He added that the first priority for Trump is that the hostages held in Gaza 
since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack "need to come home, they need to be 
released".