Over 50 Christian and Jewish leaders have urged US President Joe Biden to show "unlimited and unqualified support for Israel" as he visits the country on Wednesday.
Signatories of the open letter published in The Jerusalem Post include Harvest pastor Greg Laurie, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, Johnnie Moore, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Samuel Rodriguez, and former US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
The letter thanks Biden for visiting Israel "in her darkest hour" but urges him not to "pressure Israel into a premature ceasefire" and instead ensure that the US does everything in its power to help Israel "destroy every Hamas terrorist".
The faith leaders write that the October 7 attack on Israel was "also an undisguised attack on America" and that the "evil" of Hamas "is beyond dispute".
"We need you to take stronger action on behalf of Israel," they write.
"Israel must do all that is necessary to eliminate Hamas. It is not sufficient for Israel to degrade or even defeat this brutal terrorist regime, which oppresses its own people. Israel must completely destroy every Hamas terrorist, so that this evil is erased from human history."
They warned that if America pressures Israel into a ceasefire, "Israel's enemies will be emboldened and Israel imperiled, long into the future."
"Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive and commit these atrocities again. If Hamas is not eliminated, Israel will be," they said.
"As Israel's greatest ally, America must demonstrate unlimited and unqualified support for Israel in its righteous battle against Hamas."
The letter has been published to coincide with Biden's visit to Israel, which took a complicated turn after an explosion at an Anglican-run hospital in Gaza City that both sides have denied responsibility for.
The explosion prompted the cancellation of a planned summit with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Commenting on the letter, former US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said, "Jews and Christians worldwide are praying every day for the Jewish People and the State of Israel. What happened on October 7 can never happen again.
"We are united in demanding that the United States afford Israel the time, the space, and the resources to eradicate Hamas and end the atrocities which it commits against Jews and Palestinians alike."
