Israel's new foreign minister urged the world today to isolate a Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories, saying the militant group would turn them into a "terror state."
In her first visit to the United States as foreign minister, Tzipi Livni said it was essential that the international community send a clear message to Hamas.
"We depend on the international community's unified message to the Palestinians," she said at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
She reiterated Israel's insistence that Hamas renounce violence, disarm militants and recognize Israel's right to exist - all conditions that United States, the European Union and others have demanded too.
"When an entity, a state is being led by terrorists, the meaning is that this entity, this authority, this state is going to transfer into a terror state," said Livni.
A "terror state" would have to face sanctions and other measures from the international community, she added.
Hamas, which is responsible for dozens of suicide attacks against Israelis, has rejected demands that it recognize Israel, , which it says is the aggressor.
Ms Livni's call for a unified message to Hamas came after Jordan's King Abdullah told her in Washington on Tuesday that Israel should wait and see what policies Hamas adopted in government before rejecting it.