Vance says Gaza ceasefire ‘in very good place’ during Israel visit, despite weekend violence – follow live

Vance ends by asking Christians to pray for peacepublished at 16:44 BST
Image source, Reuters
Vance is finishing his remarks by asking Christians to pray for peace.
He says he plans to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified.
“Christians have many titles for Jesus Christ, and one of them is the Prince of Peace,” Vance says.
“I ask all people of faith, in particular my fellow Christians, to pray that the Prince of Peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world.
I think that we have made incredible strides over the past week. We’re going to have to make a lot more, but I think with your prayers, with God’s providence, and with a very good team behind me, I think we’re gonna get it done.”
‘The only real mediator is the US’ – Vancepublished at 16:39 BST
Vance is asked for more details on the international security force.
The vice-president says that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s envoys, are working on it “right now”.
He confirms there will be no “American boots” on the ground in Gaza, but says it will provide “useful co-ordination” between several countries.
“The only real mediator is the US,” he adds.
What is the ultimate leadership in Gaza? ‘I don’t know,’ Vance repliespublished at 16:39 BST
Image source, Reuters
Vance is now asked what he thinks the ultimate leadership in Gaza could look like.
“I don’t know,” he says, but adds that they’re creating a governance structure “that is very flexible” to what happens in the future.
He says both the Palestinians living in Gaza and the Israelis need to be able to live in stability and security. Once this point is reached, “we’ll worry about the long-term governance of Gaza,” he says, but food and medicine are a priority.
No reconstruction funds to Hamas-controlled area – Kushnerpublished at 16:37 BST
Jared Kushner is speaking again now about future reconstruction.
He says there will be no reconstruction funds going into areas controlled by Hamas.
He says consideration is being given to how to start reconstruction in areas controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
He refers to this as the “new Gaza” – a place where people can “live” and “get jobs”.
US will not set deadline for Hamas disarmament, Vance sayspublished at 16:37 BST
Image source, Reuters
Will Hamas truly disarm? Vance is asked.
He says he’s confident right now that the peace will hold, and that disarmament is part of the 20-point peace plan agreed by Hamas and Israel.
If they don’t, Trump has said Hamas will be obliterated, Vance adds.
The vice-president says he won’t put a specific deadline on the disarmament timeline, and says Trump won’t do that either.
He says part of achieving this is setting up an international security force to make Gaza safe.
Vance says return of all hostage bodies ‘not going to happen overnight’published at 16:35 BST
Vance is now asked about Hamas returning the remains of all the deceased Israeli hostages.
He says it’s a “focus” to get the bodies back to their families so a proper burial can take place.
But Vance adds, “this is difficult, this is not going to happen overnight”.
He explains that some of the hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble, while the whereabouts of others is completely unknown.
Vance says that doesn’t mean the work to recover them will stop, or that there’s a lack of confidence in finding the remains, but he stresses there needs to be patience: “This is going to take a little bit of time.”
Vance is here at a critical momentpublished at 16:33 BST
Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, reporting from southern Israel
To meet the US vice-president, we were brought with other media to a large concrete hangar near Ashkelon in southern Israel – the site of a new coordination centre set up by the US to oversee the next steps in this peace deal.
Vice-President Vance is coming at a critical moment for this deal.
The rewards of phase one – though not complete – have largely been delivered: 33 hostages, living and dead, have been returned to Israel and more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners or their remains have been released.
Now both Israel and Hamas face the sticky challenges that loom in the next phase of this deal – that require both to give up their respective control over Gaza, while trying to hold on to their power.
Ceasefire ‘in very good place’ – Vancepublished at 16:32 BST
Vance is then asked how likely it is that the ceasefire will hold.
The past week has given me “great optimism,” Vance replies.
There will be moments where it looks like things aren’t going well, he continues, and it will require mediation, supervision and monitoring.
“Right now, I feel very optimistic,” he says, as the ceasefire is “in very good place”.
“Can I say with 100% certainty that it’s going to work, no,” he adds. But you don’t do difficult things by only doing what’s 100% certain – you do them by trying, he tells the news conference.
There is a ‘constructive role’ for Turkey, Vance sayspublished at 16:30 BST
JD Vance then starts taking questions.
He is first asked what role Turkey will play in the deal, given accusations against it of supporting Hamas in the past.
Vance says he thinks “everybody has a role to play here” – this could be financial, construction or communication.
He adds that he does think there is a “constructive role” for Turkey.
‘Everyone believes it’s possible to create something better in Gaza’ – Kushnerpublished at 16:28 BST
Image source, Reuters
Kushner thanks the coordinators.
He points to the flags behind him – which include flags from various countries such as the UK, Canada and Germany – and says these are some of the countries taking part.
He describes the “round the clock effort” and says “everyone believes it is possible to create something better in Gaza”.
He adds that he believes “a great outcome is possible” if everyone works together.
Kushner says there is strong co-ordination between UN and Israel on aid deliveriespublished at 16:26 BST
Trump’s advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner is speaking now.
He says the ceasefire process has moved towards getting the bodies of the deceased out and to their families.
There has been strong co-ordination between the UN and Israel, he says, to reach people in Gaza and not let aid fall into the “wrong hands” there.
The pace of work at the new command centre means there’ll be even more progress in another week, he says.
Just like Vance, he says some people are getting worked up about “various incursions” – but both sides are doing a lot to de-escalate tensions.
Witkoff and Kushner met hostages and their families this morningpublished at 16:24 BST
Witkoff says that this morning he and Trump’s advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with 10 Israeli hostages and their families.
He says there were lots of tears, but adds that he didn’t see any victims in the room – he saw strong people who have emerged from very difficult circumstances.
Witkoff says it was his privilege as an American to be there.
New centre will also be used in other conflicts, Witkoff sayspublished at 16:22 BST
Image source, Reuters
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is speaking now.
He says the US team is “exceeding where we thought we would be at this time” with implementing the ceasefire.
The Civilian Military Co-operation Centre (CMCC) will also be used in other conflicts, Witkoff says, “as we figure out all of the intricate to modulate a peace deal… go from war to peace”.
Media blamed for attitude on ceasefirepublished at 16:18 BST
Vance goes on to criticise what he calls a “weird attitude” in American and western media towards the ceasefire.
He describes this as a “desire to root for failure”.
He says that every time something bad happens or there’s an act of violence, there’s an “inclination” to say the ceasefire is over.
Vance announces centre to rebuild Gazapublished at 16:16 BST
Image source, Reuters
Vance starts by announcing the opening of the Civilian Military Co-operation Centre to begin rebuilding Gaza.
He thanks the Israeli government and other partners, saying there is “a lot of work to do”.
JD Vance to speak soon in Israel – follow livepublished at 16:12 BST
Breaking
The vice-president will start his address soon.
We’ll bring you all the main points here, but you can also watch his comments live at the top of this page.
How big is the task of rebuilding Gaza?published at 16:07 BST
Drone footage shows vast destruction in Gaza City
By Paul Brown, Kayleen Devlin, Erwan Rivault and Barbara Metzler
As thousands of Gazans made the journey back to their neighbourhoods following the ceasefire, many of them already knew their homes were in ruins.
The level of destruction on the strip is “now in the region of 84%”, says Jaco Cilliers, UN Development Programme special representative for the Palestinians. “In certain parts of Gaza, like in Gaza City, it’s even up to 92%.”
This damage has created colossal amounts of rubble. Assessments by BBC Verify based on recent satellite data suggest there could be over 60 million tonnes of debris waiting to be cleared in Gaza.
Any process of post-conflict reconstruction must begin by clearing the remnants of war.
Ceasefire shaken after fighting over weekendpublished at 15:55 BST
Image source, Reuters
As we mentioned, violence flared up in the Strip on Sunday, raising concerns that the ceasefire could collapse.
This is expected to be a key topic in talks between US delegates and Israeli officials, so let’s take a closer look at what happened.
It began on Sunday, when Israel accused Hamas of carrying out an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers in south Gaza. Hamas said it was “unaware” of any clashes in the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces dropped 153 tonnes of bombs on Gaza in response to what he called a “blatant” breach of the ceasefire by Hamas.
“One of our hands holds a weapon, the other hand is stretched out for peace,” he said. “You make peace with the strong, not the weak.”
Gaza hospitals said at least 45 Palestinians were killed in the bombing campaign. Israel later said it had started the “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”.
Afterwards, Hamas’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, insisted his group and other Palestinian factions were committed to the ceasefire deal and “determined to fully implement it until the end”.
“What we heard from the mediators and the US president reassures us that the war in Gaza is over,” he told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News TV.
Israel-Hamas: the ceasefire so farpublished at 15:36 BST
A ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas came into force 12 days ago. Here’s what you need to know about the agreement and what’s happened since then:
- Since taking effect on 10 October, 20 living Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails
- Hamas has handed over the remains of 13 hostages, with the remains of about 15 people yet to be returned
- As part of the deal, Israel partially withdrew its military from Gaza, while lorries carrying humanitarian aid were allowed into the territory
- On Sunday, violence flared up in the Strip following an anti-tank missile attack which killed two Israeli soldiers. Israel blamed Hamas for the assault
- The Israeli military responded with air strikes, killing dozens of Palestinians
- US President Donald Trump, who helped broker the ceasefire, is sending envoys, including Vice President JD Vance so the Gaza deal can move to its next phase to ensure a permanent end to the two-year war
Image source, Getty Images
Why is JD Vance in Israel?published at 15:21 BST
Image source, Reuters
Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to strengthen the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached earlier this month.
Primarily, he is expected to push the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to start negotiations on long-term issues for a permanent end to the war with Hamas.
Other senior US officials including Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have also been in Israel this week. Shortly after arriving, Vance met the pair for about two hours.
Vance’s visit comes days after both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the ceasefire. On Sunday, Israel said a Hamas attack killed two soldiers, triggering Israeli air strikes which killed dozens of Palestinians.
- Read more of our coverage here.
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