The "singular best way" to protect civilians living in the Gaza Strip isn't a cease-fire, but the "destruction and annihilation of Hamas," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. 

"It should be done as quickly as possible," Pompeo said on "Fox News Sunday." "The lives they have lived over the last years sitting under a terrorist government have not been good lives."

And Israel now leading the charge against Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks is "something decent, moral, and good" not only for the civilians in Gaza but also for the people of Israel and "great for the United States of America."

But if Hamas is not destroyed, "the destruction, the death will continue," said Pompeo. "Iran will feel like it got an enormous victory. The Russians, the Chinese, and the Iranians will continue their terror campaigns and their efforts all across the globe, if they think the West is not prepared to do the most basic task of government, protecting their own citizens."

Meanwhile, Pompeo wrote this past week in opposition to a letter signed by more than 400 political appointees and staff members from roughly 40 government agencies to President Joe Biden to protest his support of Israel in its war.

"People who serve our country in any government institution, whether in the military or the State Department, swear allegiance to the United States and should commit to the mission of the President — elected by the American people — and his Administration," Pompeo said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "If they are unable or refuse to do so, they should resign or face termination."

Sunday, he stood by his response, saying that while the letter writers are entitled to freedom of speech, they must do the work for which they were hired, "not their own vision for what America ought to look like."

"I saw that when I was secretary of state, when there were attacks on the bureaucratic efforts it's always from the left," he said. "They believe they have a right to voice their opinions and undermine American policy. That's wrong. It is a moral principle. It's deeply unconstitutional."

Pompeo also commented on the New York Post's report that a high-ranking Pentagon official with ties to the Iranian government is seeking to undermine the leading group resisting the Middle Eastern nation's dictator, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"She's working in an organization that controls and operates our special operative forces around the world at a time of deep conflict," Pompeo said of the official, Ariane Tabatabai, the chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations at the Defense Department.

But the Biden administration "has always had a soft spot for the Islamic Republican of Iran," said Pompeo, adding that he's worried about what Iran is doing by supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and what they may be doing at the U.S. southern border.

Meanwhile, new polling shows 73% of Americans are worried about Islamic terror attacks on U.S. soil. And Pompeo pointed out that under the Biden administration, millions of people have been let into the United States and nobody knows where they are. 

"It is a very real risk if we don't know who is coming into our country," said Pompeo. "It's pretty straightforward ... don't take my word for it. Take the word of Mayor Eric Adams in New York City. Take the word of FBI Director [Christopher] Wray. They know these are real risks in their city and in their country as well."

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