Vice President JD Vance landed in Israel on October 21st to shore up a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, following U.S. president Donald Trump’s stark warning to Hamas: it will be wiped out if it breaches the truce.
“Welcome to Israel, Vice President Vance,” Israel’s foreign ministry posted on social media, along with a photo of Vance and his wife stepping off the plane, adding.
Together, the Promised Land and The Land of the Free, can secure a better future, including the release of the remaining 15 hostages.
Vance is to meet U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and the U.S. military experts monitoring the truce. According to Israeli media reports he will meet leaders in Jerusalem, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, October 22nd.
After Israel said Hamas killed two soldiers on Sunday, October 19th and accused the group of stalling the handover of hostages’ bodies, it unleashed a wave of strikes on the territory—later saying it had “renewed enforcement” of the ceasefire. The United States is now redoubling efforts to cement the fragile Gaza deal Trump helped to broker.
Both sides say they are committed to the truce despite the weekend’s violence, and Israel confirmed Hamas handed over the body of a deceased hostage on October 20th, taking the total to 13 of the 28 it had pledged to return.
Netanyahu’s office said
We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all of the deceased hostages, every last one of them.
Also on Monday, October 20th, Netanyahu—who is under pressure from hardliners in his government to abandon the deal and resume fighting—said he and Vance would discuss “the security challenges we face and the diplomatic opportunities before us.”
