US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday appeared to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of seizing 70 percent of Gaza to defeat Hamas, saying that the statement was not part of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group.

“We have a plan — it doesn’t call for that,” Rubio said. “And at the end of the day, we understand that what we want, and I think what the Israelis would ultimately want, is a Gaza that is governed by a non-Hamas entity.”

Rubio was responding to Representative Rose DeLauro, the top-ranking Democrat on the US House Appropriations Committee, who pressed him on how the administration’s 20-point plan is progressing.

Netanyahu announced last week that he ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take control of 70% of the Gaza Strip after acknowledging a week earlier that Israel already holds 60% of the territory, significantly more than the roughly 53% it was allowed to temporarily continue occupying as part of the deal with Hamas.

In response to Netanyahu’s vow to expand Israel’s grip on Gaza, Hamas accused him of a “dangerous escalation” and charged that Jerusalem........

© The Times of Israel