US Vice-President JD Vance has downplayed concerns about Gaza’s fragile ceasefire agreement as he and other envoys visited a new centre in Israel for civilian and military cooperation.
Mr Vance acknowledged flare-ups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire was going “better than I expected” after two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
US envoy Steve Witkoff added: “We are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.”
Questions remain over the long-term plan for peace, such as whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.
Mr Vance tried to downplay the idea his visit was urgently arranged to keep the ceasefire in place.Â
“My visit had nothing to do with the events of the past 48 hours,” Mr Vance said.
This is his first visit to Israel as vice-president.
There is growing Israeli frustration as Hamas searches for the remains of deceased hostages under rubble in Gaza. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)
Mr Vance has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday.
Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner served as one of the architects of the ceasefire agreement and said the deal was complex to navigate.
“Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now a peacetime posture,” Mr Kushner said.
Mr Vance said he felt “confident that we’re going to be in a place where this peace lasts,” but warned that if Hamas did not cooperate it would be “obliterated”.
Vance urges ‘patience’ over hostage returns
Israel’s army said on Wednesday that the remains of two more hostages returned the day before from Gaza had been identified as Aryeh Zalmanovich and Master Sergeant Tamir Adar.
Mr Zalmanovich, 85 at the time of his death, was abducted from his home in kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity on November 17, 2023, the Israeli military said in a statement.
Sergeant Adar, 38 when he died, was killed while fighting to defend Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive, it said.
Gaza flare-ups test Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Before turning over their remains to the Red Cross on Tuesday, Hamas had released 13 of the 28 hostage bodies pledged to be returned under the peace deal.
Under the terms of that agreement, the Palestinian militant group was supposed to have released all the hostages, living and dead, by October 13.
While 20 living hostages were released on time, Hamas said logistical difficulties, particularly in locating the bodies in a territory devastated by more than two years of war, prevented it from sticking to the schedule.
Mr Vance called for a “little bit of patience” amid Israeli frustration with the pace of the returns.
“Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble,” he said.
“Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are.
“It’s just a reason to counsel in favour of a little bit of patience.”
JD Vance is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. (Reuters: Nathan Howard)
Mr Vance added that “a lot of this work” was “very hard” as he faced questions over the next steps.
Mr Vance emphasised that US troops would not be on the ground in Gaza and said that “we’re in the phase now where we’re actually starting to conceptualise what that international security force would look like” for the territory.
The ceasefire, which came into effect  on October 10, has been tested by Sunday’s fighting and mutual accusations of violations, but Israel and Hamas have affirmed their commitment to the deal.
The head of Egypt’s intelligence agency, Major General Hassan Rashad, travelled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Witkoff and others over the ceasefire’s implementation, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war “ends once and for all”.
AP/ABC