US Vice President Vance Expresses ‘Great Optimism’ for Gaza Ceasefire Ahead of Talks with Netanyahu

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — US Vice President JD Vance voiced “great optimism” on Tuesday that the fragile Gaza ceasefire would hold as he arrived in Israel for high-level talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reinforce the US-brokered truce and discuss post-war reconstruction efforts.

Speaking at a press conference in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, where a US-led monitoring mission is based, Vance said the week’s developments had bolstered his confidence in the ceasefire’s durability.

“What we've seen the past week gives me great optimism that the ceasefire is going to hold,” he said. “It's going to require constant effort, constant monitoring, and supervision.”

His visit comes amid growing unease within Israel that Hamas may be using the pause to consolidate control in Gaza. Nonetheless, Vance emphasized that Washington would not impose a fixed deadline for the group’s disarmament, despite Israeli calls for one.

“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 while inaugurating a new joint US-Israeli Civil-Military Coordination Centre near the Gaza border.

He added that while US troops would not be deployed in Gaza, the United States would maintain “useful coordination” on security and humanitarian operations.

The visit follows a stern warning from US President Donald Trump, who cautioned Hamas that allied nations in the region were ready to “wipe out” the group if it breached the ceasefire.

“Our GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East... would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into Gaza with a heavy force and straighten out Hamas if Hamas continues to act badly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Tensions flared over the weekend when two Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah, sparking retaliatory airstrikes that the Hamas-run health ministry said killed at least 45 Palestinians.

Hamas denied involvement in the attack and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire.

Speaking to AFP, Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, warned that the truce remains “very, very fragile.” “The only thing stopping Israel from further destroying Gaza is Trump,” she told AFP, suggesting Netanyahu is balancing domestic pressure and his alliance with Washington.

Despite recent violence, Hamas has continued to deliver on parts of the ceasefire deal, returning the remains of Israeli hostages killed during the war. The Israeli military confirmed on Wednesday that two more bodies had been identified, bringing the total to 15 of the 28 pledged under the agreement.

The Red Cross said it has facilitated the transfer of 165 Palestinian bodies from Israel to Gaza as part of the arrangement.

Meanwhile, Hamas’s Gaza leader Khalil al-Hayya, speaking from Cairo, where talks are ongoing with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, said the movement was confident the truce would endure.

“What we heard from the mediators and from the US President reassures us that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has ended,” he said.

The devastating conflict, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault that killed 1,221 people in Israel, has left more than 68,000 dead in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Vance’s meetings in Jerusalem on Wednesday are expected to focus on ensuring the ceasefire’s stability and shaping Gaza’s post-war governance, as Washington seeks to prevent renewed escalation and lay the groundwork for long-term peace.