Vice President JD Vance visited Israel on Tuesday amid U.S. efforts to shore up the fragile cease-fire deal in Gaza, but he did not give a deadline for Hamas to disarm or say how officials would ensure the militant group agrees to that key part of the accord.
Israel and Hamas agreed this month to a truce in their two-year war, a deal based on parts of a plan outlined by President Trump. The deal has come under increasing strain amid repeated flare-ups of violence in Gaza in recent days.
But Mr. Vance, on the first day of his trip to Israel, expressed optimism that the deal would hold.
“My visit had nothing to do with the events of the past 48 hours,” Mr. Vance said, referring to the recent violence, during a news conference in southern Israel.
The disarmament of Hamas has been a hurdle to a long-term end to the conflict. “I don’t think it’s actually advisable for us to say this has to be done in a week,” Mr. Vance said.
The vice president spoke from a civil-military coordination center in southern Israel that hosts U.S. personnel monitoring the implementation of the cease-fire. There, Mr. Vance attended security briefings alongside the Trump administration’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the U.S. president’s son-in-law. Both men were instrumental in brokering the cease-fire deal, alongside Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.
Earlier Tuesday, shortly after Mr. Vance landed in Israel, President Trump said that if Hamas were to violate the agreement, a number of unnamed U.S. allies in the Middle East would “welcome the opportunity” to respond to the militant group with “heavy force.”
“There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media.
Analysts said that Mr. Vance’s trip to Israel, which is expected to last until Thursday, was intended to send a warning to both Israel and Hamas not to undermine the truce.
Several Trump officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, told The New York Times on Monday that there was concern within the administration that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel may vacate the U.S.-backed deal.
At the news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Vance praised the Israeli government as “remarkably helpful” in implementing the peace plan.
The vice president was scheduled to meet with Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday morning, according to the prime minister’s office.
Mr. Netanyahu has been vague about what he expected to discuss with Mr. Vance.
“We will talk about two things, mainly the security challenges and the diplomatic opportunities we face,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Monday in a speech on Monday to Israel’s Parliament. “We will overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities.”
For now, both Israel and Hamas say they are committed to the cease-fire, despite the recent violence.
On Sunday, Palestinian militants fired on Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing two. In response, Israel launched a wave of strikes that killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The violence was short-lived, but analysts have warned that the truce is likely to be tested again.
Israeli forces have also attacked Palestinians who they said crossed a demarcation line where Israeli military forces have withdrawn to inside Gaza. The Israeli military said some were militants, but on Saturday, Gaza officials said a number of civilians, including several children, had been killed.
On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he met with Egypt’s intelligence chief, Gen. Hassan Rashad, to discuss the Gaza cease-fire and other regional issues.
Under the terms of the deal, Hamas handed over the 20 Israeli hostages it was still holding in Gaza, while Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange on Oct. 13.
Mr. Trump and his mediators hope to build on the cease-fire to realize an ambitious postwar vision for Gaza that would see Hamas fighters would lay down their weapons, an international force take charge of security and an independent Palestinian administration eventually assume control.
Hamas has expressed serious reservations about that plan, especially about disarming its fighters. And both sides have yet to meet significant parts of the initial cease-fire agreement, much less reach a broader deal on Gaza’s future.
Hamas has returned the bodies of at least 13 people to Israel, and Israel has returned the bodies of more than 100 Palestinians to Gaza. On Tuesday, Hamas said it planned to return two more bodies to Israel at 9 p.m. local time.
But the bodies of about 15 hostages, which Hamas is obligated to return to Israel under the cease-fire deal, remain in Gaza. Hamas officials have said they are doing the best they can, but that recovering the bodies was challenging.
“We are serious about handing over all of the bodies, as stipulated by the deal,” Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas leader, told Egyptian state television early Tuesday.
He said Hamas was facing “enormous difficulty” in excavating some of the remains because of the “changed landscape” in Gaza, where vast swathes of cities have been reduced to rubble during the two-year war.
Israeli leaders, including Mr. Netanyahu, have accused Hamas of violating the deal by not immediately returning more hostages’ remains. Israel has retaliated by keeping the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed until further notice.
On Monday night, Hamas handed over the body of one of the remaining hostages, who Israeli officials later identified as Tal Haimi. Mr. Haimi, 41, was killed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war.
In exchange, Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Tuesday, according to the Red Cross.
The October 2023 attack killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken back to Gaza as hostages, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli authorities. In response, Israel launched a devastating campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 68,000 people, according to local health officials.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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