Gaza ceasefire shaken, JD Vance in Israel to get fragile truce back on track

Tel Aviv: US Vice-President JD Vance on Tuesday visited a newly opened centre in Israel for civilian and military cooperation that he called central to keeping the US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza on track.

Vance, who visited with top US envoys, said the fragile ceasefire is going “better than I expected.” Envoy Steve Witkoff added that “we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.”

Vance, Witkoff and others are in Israel to shore up the ceasefire following a burst of deadly violence and questions over the plan for long-term peace.

Vance was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of the architects of the ceasefire agreement, is also in Israel. Also on Tuesday, Hamas said it has recovered the remains of two more hostages and planned to hand them over Tuesday evening.

Vance urged a little bit of patience’ amid growing Israeli frustration with Hamas’ pace of the returns.

“Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” Vance said. “It’s just a reason to counsel in favour of a little bit of patience.”

He added that “a lot of this work is very hard” as he faced questions over next steps, and he urged flexibility.

The ceasefire took effect on October 10. While it has been tested by Sunday’s fighting and mutual accusations of violations, both Israel and Hamas have said they are committed to the deal. Trump has made clear he wants it to succeed.

The head of Egypt’s intelligence agency, Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, travelled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Netanyahu, Witkoff and others over the ceasefire’s implementation, according to Netanyahu’s office.

The meetings highlight the urgency of launching negotiations for the second phase of the US plan, which must address issues such as the disarmament of Hamas and the governance of postwar Gaza.

Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war “ends once and for all.”

“From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined and committed to seeing it through to the end,” Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News television late Monday.

Israel identifies another body of a hostage

Israel confirmed that Palestinian militants had released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. The 42-year-old was part of its emergency response team and had four children, including one born after the attack. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is waiting for Hamas to turn over the remains of 15 hostages. Thirteen others have been turned overInternational organisations said they were scaling up humanitarian aid entering Gaza, while Hamas-led security forces launched a crackdown against what it called price gouging by private merchants.