Wednesday 22 / October / 2025
JD Vance told reporters in Israel that he thinks the Gaza peace plan is going to last but repeated President Donald Trump's claims that, if Hamas does not cooperate, it will be "obliterated."
Vance urged a "little bit of patience" amid growing Israeli frustration with Israeli hostage families share details of ordealsHamas' pace of return of deceased hostages.
"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 favor 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.
Hamas militants have so far released 13 bodies of hostages that were held in Gaza for the past two years as part of theceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
US Vice President JD Vance said during a press briefing in Israel that the US would not send troops into Gaza, echoing comments made by US President Donald Trump.
"There are not going to be American boots on the ground in Gaza. The President of the United States has made that very clear. All of our military leadership has made that very clear."
Vance added that the US would limit itself to providing "useful coordination."
He also added that Washington had not set a deadline for the disarmament of Hamas set out in the Gaza deal.
"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, 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," Vance said.
US Vice President JD Vance opened his press conference by saying Hamas was a terrorist organization and that the Israeli military was "defending itself" throughout the conflict.
Vance arrived in Israel earlier Tuesday, along with his wife, Usha Vance, and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday.
Vance continues negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, with US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kusher, having landed in Tel Aviv to continue work on the ceasefire deal on Monday.
Vance visited a newly opened civilian-military cooperation center in Israel that the US says is central to keeping Trump's Gaza peace plan on track.
Gaza's fragile ceasefire faced its first major test Sunday as Israeli forces launched a wave of deadly strikes, saying Hamas militants had killed two soldiers.
The Israeli military later said Sunday it resumed enforcing the ceasefire that first went into effect on October 10.
