Vance Says Ceasefire Is Going Better Than Expected

On a visit to Israel Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance and other US envoys projected optimism about Gaza 's fragile ceasefire agreement, calling progress better than anticipated as they visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation. Vance noted flareups 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 Hama, the AP reports. 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 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."
• The Israeli military said two more coffins believed to hold the bodies of hostages were brought to Israel Tuesday night, CNN reports. If confirmed, that means there are 13 left to be returned.
• 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," he said.
• Although some 200 US troops were recently sent to Israel, Vance emphasized that they would not be on the ground in Gaza. But he said officials are beginning to "conceptualize 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.
• In a post on Truth Social Tuesday, Trump said: "Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and 'straighten our (sic) Hamas' if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us."