Vice President JD Vance and other US envoys projected optimism about the fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday, calling progress better than anticipated as they visited Israel.
Vance noted flareups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire that began on 10 October 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.
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.”
Jared Kushner, 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 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
Hamas says remains of two more hostages recovered
Meanwhile, the militant group Hamas said it had recovered the remains of two more hostages and planned to hand them over to Israel on Tuesday evening.
Vance urged a “little bit of patience” amid Israeli frustration with the slow 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 US troops were recently sent to Israel, 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, the UK and Denmark were on the stage where he spoke.
The ceasefire was tested by renewed fighting on Sunday and accusations from both sides of ceasefire violations, but both Israel and Hamas have said they are committed to the deal.
The head of Egypt’s intelligence agency, Major General Hassan Rashad, travelled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Netanyahu, Witkoff and others about the ceasefire, Netanyahu’s office said.
Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war “ends once and for all.”
Aid into Gaza increases
International 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.
The World Food Programme (WFP) 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 militants 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-kilogramme package of flour was selling for more than $70 (€60) on Sunday, up from about $12 (€10) shortly after the ceasefire. By Tuesday, the price was around $30 (€25).
Mohamed al-Faqawi, a Khan Younis resident, accused merchants of taking advantage of the perilous security situation.
“They are exploiting us,” he said.
On Monday, Hamas said its security forces raided shops across Gaza, closing some and forcing merchants to lower prices. Hamas also has allowed aid trucks to move safely and halted looting of deliveries.
Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza’s private truckers’ union, said there was no stealing aid since the ceasefire started.
But other significant challenges remain as Gaza’s financial system is in tatters. With nearly every bank branch and ATM inoperable, people pay exorbitant commissions to a network of cash brokers to get money for daily expenses.
On Tuesday, dozens of people in Deir al-Balah spent hours in line at the Bank of Palestine hoping to access their money but were turned away.
“Without having the bank open and without money, it does not matter that the prices have dropped,” said Kamilia Al-Ajez.