Vance visits Israel and says ceasefire in Gaza is going better than expected

KIRYAT GAT, Israel (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other envoys projected optimism Tuesday about Gaza's ceasefire agreement, calling progress better than anticipated as they visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation.

Vance noted flare-ups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10 is going “better than I expected” after two years of war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. The Trump administration's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added that “we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.”

They are in Israel as questions remain over the long-term plan for peace, including whether Hamas will disarm, when and how an international security force will deploy to Gaza, and who will govern the territory after the war.

Vance said he feels “confident that we’re going to be in a place where this peace lasts,” but warned that if Hamas doesn’t cooperate, it will be “obliterated.”

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of the architects of the ceasefire agreement, noted its complexity: “Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now a peacetime posture."

Vance is expected to stay in the region until Thursday and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu fired his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, but gave no reason for the decision. In a statement, Hanegbi noted “times of disagreement” with Netanyahu.

Hamas said it had recovered the remains of two more hostages and planned to hand them over on Tuesday evening.

Vance urged a “little bit of patience” amid 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.

As he faced journalists' questions over the ceasefire's next steps, he said “a lot of this work is very hard" and urged flexibility.

“Once we’ve got to a point where both the Gazans and our Israeli friends can have some measure of security, then we’ll worry about what the long-term governance of Gaza is," he said. "Let’s focus on security, rebuilding, giving people some food and medicine.”

Although some 200 U.S. troops were recently sent to Israel, Vance emphasized that they would not be on the ground in Gaza. But he said officials are beginning to "conceptualize what that international security force would look like" for the territory.

He mentioned Turkey and Indonesia as countries expected to participate. The flags of Jordan, Germany, Britain, and Denmark were on the stage where he spoke.

While the ceasefire has been tested by fighting and mutual accusations of violations, both Israel and Hamas have said they are committed to the deal.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is waiting for Hamas to turn over the bodies of 15 remaining hostages. Thirteen others have been turned over.

Israel is releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each dead hostage, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government. It said on Tuesday that Israel had so far transferred 165 bodies since earlier this month.

International organizations 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.

The World Food Program said it had sent more than 530 trucks into Gaza in the past 10 days, enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks. That's well under the 500 to 600 that entered daily before the war.

The WFP also said it had reinstated 26 distribution points and hopes to scale up to its previous 145 points across Gaza as soon as possible.

Residents said prices for essential goods soared on Sunday after terrorists killed two Israeli soldiers and Israel responded with strikes that killed dozens of Palestinians. Israel also threatened to halt humanitarian aid.

At a market in the central city of Deir al-Balah, a 25-kilogram (55-pound) package of flour was selling for more than $70 on Sunday, up from about $12 shortly after the ceasefire. By Tuesday, the price was around $30.

Mohamed al-Faqawi, a Khan Younis resident, accused merchants of taking advantage of the perilous security situation. “They are exploiting us,” he said.

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This story has been updated.