The Japan Times - US Vice President Vance in Israel to shore up Gaza deal

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were already in Tel Aviv, where they met Israeli hostages released by Hamas after two years of captivity in Gaza.

"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.

"Together, the Promised Land and The Land of the Free, can secure a better future, including the release of the remaining 15 hostages," it added.

Vance is to meet Witkoff, Kushner and US military experts monitoring the truce. According to Israeli media reports he will meet Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

After Israel said Hamas killed two soldiers on Sunday 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.

- 'Playing both approaches' -

"The dynamic keeps going back and forth," Mairav Zonszein, senior analyst on Israel for the International Crisis Group (ICG), told AFP.

"Trump is on the one hand letting Israel do what it wants, and on the other hand, at the end of the day, he wants the ceasefire to hold," she said.

"Netanyahu is playing both approaches... He's talking about peace and giving peace a chance... And at the same time, he's bombing Gaza and he's trying to condition aid again," she added.

Trump says he believes the deal is still holding and that Hamas militants understand what will happen if they breach it. "They'll be eradicated, and they know that," he told reporters at the White House.

Hamas has denied any knowledge of Sunday morning's deadly violence in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Israel responded after the soldiers' deaths with an intense wave of bombings the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said killed 45 Palestinians.

Egypt's intelligence head Hassan Rashad was also in Israel on Tuesday to reinforce the truce, according to Netanyahu's office and Egyptian state-linked media.

The spy chief will also meet with US envoy Witkoff, Extra News reported.

US ally and fellow truce mediator Qatar accused Israel of what its leader called the "continued violation" of the now 11-day-old ceasefire.

"We reiterate our condemnation of all Israeli violations and practices in Palestine, particularly the transformation of the Gaza Strip into an area unfit for human life," Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told legislators.

Hamas's Gaza leader, in Cairo for talks with Egypt and Qatar, issued a statement expressing confidence the truce will hold.

"What we heard from the mediators and from the US President reassures us that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has ended," Khalil al-Hayya said.

Hayya insisted Hamas was serious about retrieving the 15 remaining hostage bodies, but warned that the search has been hampered by the level of destruction in the territory.

- 'Will not compromise' -

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 Monday, 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."

On Monday, Netanyahu -- who is under pressure from hardliners in his government to abandon the deal and resume the fighting -- said he and Vance would discuss "the security challenges we face and the diplomatic opportunities before us".

The ceasefire, which went into effect on October 10 also proposed an ambitious roadmap for Gaza's future, but its implementation has quickly faced challenges.

Under Trump's 20-point plan, Israeli forces have withdrawn beyond the so-called "Yellow Line".

This leaves them in control of around half of Gaza, including the territory's borders, but not its main cities.

The war, triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has killed at least 68,229 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

bur-ceg-dc-acc/ser

M.Matsumoto--JT