Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel Tuesday, telling reporters that he felt “very optimistic” that the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel would hold despite Israel’s strikes over the weekend in Gaza following the deaths of two soldiers.
“We are one week into President Trump’s historic peace plan in the Middle East, and things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they were,” Vance told reporters. He spoke alongside U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and administration adviser Jared Kushner, who helped broker the deal.
Vance is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday. The visit marked Vance’s first time in Israel as vice president.
“We will talk about two things, mainly the security challenges and the diplomatic opportunities we face,” Netanyahu said in a speech to the Knesset Monday about his planned meeting with Vance. “We will overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities.”
During his opening remarks at the new Civilian Military Co-operation Center in southern Israel, Vance also accused the “American media” of having a “desire to root for failure” when there are lapses in the ceasefire rollout, appearing to reference Israel’s strikes in Gaza on Sunday.
“Every time that there’s an act of violence, there’s this inclination to say, ‘Oh, this is the end of the ceasefire,’” said Vance. “It’s not the end. It is, in fact, exactly how this is going to have to happen when you have people who hate each other, who have been fighting against each other for a very long time. We are doing very well. We are in a very good place.”
Vance added that his presence in Israel had “nothing to do with events in the past 48 hours,” and said he had come to “put some eyes” on the negotiations and report back to President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States’ allies in the Middle East would “welcome the opportunity” to “go into GAZA with a heavy force and ‘straighten out Hamas’ if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us.” (The two Israeli soldiers in Gaza were not killed by Hamas, according to Israel and Hamas.)
“I told these countries, and Israel, ‘NOT YET!’ There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!,” Trump’s post continued.
While all of the 20 living hostages in Gaza were released by Hamas on Oct. 13, the slow pace of the return of the remaining deceased hostages has spurred frustration among Israelis. At least 13 bodies have been returned to Israel thus far, and two more are scheduled to be returned Tuesday evening.
When asked by a reporter at the press conference Tuesday if the United States would impose a deadline on Hamas for the release of the remaining hostages, Vance urged “patience.”
“This is not going to happen overnight. Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages nobody even knows where they are,” said Vance. “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 favor of a little bit of patience.”
Later, when asked by a reporter how much time Hamas has to lay down its weapons before the U.S. military intervenes, Vance declined to set a strict deadline.
“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,” said Vance. “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.”
Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, said that there had been “surprisingly strong coordination” between the United Nations and Israel on delivering humanitarian aid into Gaza, and that plans to help rebuild the enclave were underway.
“There are considerations happening now in the area that the IDF controls, as long as that can be secured, to start the construction as a new Gaza, in order to give the Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live,” said Kushner.
Vance, who is scheduled to remain in Israel until Thursday, also emphasized that U.S. troops would not be on the ground in Gaza and that they were working towards establishing an “international security force” in the region.
“Right now, I feel very optimistic. Can I say with 100% certainty that it’s going to work? No, but you don’t do difficult things by only doing what’s 100% certain, you do difficult things by trying,” said Vance.
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