Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, touched down in Israel on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration’s latest bid to uphold the fragile Israel-Gaza ceasefire. He issued a stark warning that if Hamas fails to honour the agreement, “very bad things are going to happen.”
Upon landing, the vice president held a press briefing where he stated that the Gaza ceasefire is progressing better than anticipated. He called for “a little bit of patience,” acknowledging that repatriating deceased hostages to Israel would take time.
However, he didn’t shy away from issuing a stern warning to Hamas, urging them to adhere to the peace plan’s conditions.
“We know that Hamas has to comply with the deal, and if Hamas doesn’t comply with the deal, very bad things are going to happen,” Vice President Vance warned during the briefing. “But I’m not going to do what the president of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it, because a lot of this stuff is difficult, a lot of this stuff is unpredictable.
“I don’t think it’s actually advisable for us to say ‘this has to be done in a week’ because a lot of this work is very hard, it’s never been done before, and in order for us to give it a chance to succeed, we’ve got to be a little bit flexible,” reports the Express US.
The Vice President has stated that the administration is focusing on repatriating the bodies of deceased hostages back to Israel, acknowledging that many are “buried under thousands of pounds of rubble,” making their location a challenge. Hamas released all 20 living hostages when the deal was agreed, and so far, it has handed over 13 out of 28 deceased hostages.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to get them, and that doesn’t mean we don’t have confidence that we will. It’s just a reason to counsel in favour of a little bit of patience. This is going to take a little bit of time.”
Despite this, he dismissed any worries about recent ceasefire violations, maintaining that the agreement is still robust.
“My visit had nothing to do with events in the past 48 hours,” Vance said. “We had actually tried to plan this visit, frankly, months ago. We thought this would be a good time to do it… I wanted to come, I wanted to check in on things, I wanted to talk to the troops who are working very hard to coordinate this massive relief effort.”
There have been numerous allegations of ceasefire violations in recent days. The Palestinian news agency reports that Israel has violated the ceasefire 80 times and killed at least 80 Palestinians in the past 11 days since the ceasefire came into effect.
Conversely, Israel has claimed that Hamas has delayed the return of hostages’ bodies, arguing that this too is a violation of the ceasefire.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed by Palestinian militants, while Israel has retaliated with bombings in Gaza on Sunday.
Vance, however, is in Israel for more than just overseeing the fragile agreement. He’s there to announce the launch of what he refers to as a Civilian Military Cooperation Centre, where Israelis and Americans will collaborate to rebuild the Gaza strip.
“You have Israelis and Americans working hand in hand to try to begin the plan to rebuild Gaza, to implement a long-term peace, and to actually ensure that you have security forces on the ground in Gaza not composed of Americans who can keep the peace over the long term,” he explained.
Vance plans to remain in the Middle East until Thursday to discuss the agreement, brokered by President Trump, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also has meetings scheduled with families of hostages whose bodies have yet to be released by Hamas.
Upon his arrival, the vice president was welcomed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and other officials. He will also hold discussions with White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
A previous report from Reuters stated an Israeli official confirmed Vance’s visit was intended to progress discussions to the second phase of the 20-point peace plan drafted by the administration. However, given the increasingly precarious and volatile state of the ongoing ceasefire, it remains uncertain whether this is still the case.
The upcoming stages of the peace plan are widely considered to be the most challenging, as they tackle complex issues such as post-war governance in Gaza and whether Hamas is prepared to cede any authority.
