Vance visits Israel and says ceasefire in Gaza is going better than expected
U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other envoys projected optimism on Tuesday (October 22, 2025) about Gaza's fragile ceasefire agreement, calling progress better than anticipated as they visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation.
Mr. 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 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.
Mr. Vance tried to downplay any idea that his visit — his first as vice president — was urgently arranged to keep the ceasefire in place. He 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.”
ared 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."
Mr. Vance is expected to stay in the region until Thursday and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials.
On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu fired his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, but gave no reason for the decision. Israeli media said Hanegbi had opposed the renewal of Israel's Gaza offensive in March, and Israel's failed attempt to assassinate Hamas' leadership in an airstrike in Qatar in September. In a statement, Hanegbi noted “times of disagreement” with Mr. Netanyahu.
Hamas says remains of 2 more hostages recovered Hamas said it had recovered the remains of two more hostages and planned to hand them over Tuesday evening.
Mr. 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,” Mr. 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, Mr. Vance emphasised that they would not be on the ground in Gaza. But he said officials are beginning to "conceptualise 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.
source:thehindu.com
