The Media Line: Vance Opens Israel Visit To Shore Up Fragile Gaza Truce, Launches Joint Coordination Hub 

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

Vance Opens Israel Visit To Shore Up Fragile Gaza Truce, Launches Joint Coordination Hub 

By The Media Line Staff 

US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday and launched a US-Israel civil-military coordination center in southwest Israel, around 12 miles from the Gaza Strip border, as Washington works to keep a fragile Gaza ceasefire on track. The trip—planned to run through Thursday—comes after deadly flare-ups in southern Gaza tested the deal brokered under President Donald Trump’s peace framework, and amid negotiations over the return of hostages’ remains, humanitarian access, and the future security architecture for the enclave. Vance is meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and conferring with presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to press both sides toward compliance and to map the next phase of talks. 

At the new hub, Vance said the plan was progressing “better than I expected,” while cautioning that full implementation “is going to take a very, very long time.” He praised partners in the region, saying, “The Israeli government has been remarkably helpful,” and credited cooperation “all across the Gulf Arab States, Indonesia, [and] the Turks.” Rebutting predictions of collapse, he added, “This is not the end,” and criticized “this weird attitude … to say, ‘Oh, this is the end of the ceasefire. This is the end of the peace plan.’” 

Fighting has repeatedly spiked since the truce took hold. Israeli forces reported attacks on soldiers near Rafah that killed two; Israel struck back with air raids that Gaza health officials said killed dozens. Each side accuses the other of violations. Israel has also kept the Rafah crossing closed while pressing for faster returns of hostages’ remains. 

Hamas says it is working to recover bodies from vast rubble left by two years of war. “We are serious about handing over all of the bodies, as stipulated by the deal,” senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya told Egyptian state television, citing “enormous difficulty” excavating remains in devastated areas. Israeli officials say Hamas has not met obligations quickly enough. 

Kushner floated an early-reconstruction concept limited to areas now under Israeli control. “No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” he said, describing a “new Gaza” where residents could return to work and basic services—while leaving open whether security would rest with Israeli forces or a future international mission. He also said “there has been surprisingly strong coordination between the United Nations and Israel” on aid deliveries since the truce began. 

The White House is signaling pressure as well as patience. On Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote that unnamed US partners “would welcome the opportunity” to hit the “militant group” with “heavy force” if the deal is breached, while stressing, “There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right.” In the Knesset, Netanyahu said, “We will talk about two things, mainly the security challenges and the diplomatic opportunities we face.” 

Vance is framing disarmament as essential. “Hamas has to disarm,” he said, adding that “fighters can be given some sort of clemency,” but warning that if terms are not met, the group could be “obliterated.” He declined to set a deadline: “I don’t think it’s actually advisable to say this has to be done in a week.” Noting the still-uncertain political end state, he said, “What does the ultimate authority in Gaza look like … I don’t know the answer to that question,” while stressing the immediate goals of basic security and humanitarian relief.