TEL AVIV,(National times)- U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace. Also Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end the two-year war. Vance, who is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. His visit follows that of two top White House envoys. After arrival, Vance held a working meeting at the airport with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump \u2019s former White House adviser and son-in-law. Vance is to hold a news conference on Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being held in Gaza and some of the living hostages released by the militants last week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met in Tel Aviv with nine hostages who were released from captivity last week. Israel confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border. The 42-year-old was a fourth-generation resident of the kibbutz and part of its emergency response team. He had four children, including one born after the attack. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is still waiting for Hamas to turn over the remains of 15 deceased hostages. Thirteen bodies have been released since the ceasefire began. The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that Israel transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire. The International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, it said. The new arrivals brought the number of bodies Israel sent back to Gaza to 165 since the exchanges started earlier this month, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamas says it\u2019s committed to ending the war
After trading strikes earlier this week, Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war \u201cends once and for all.\u201d \u201cFrom the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined and committed to seeing it through to the end,\u201d Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt\u2019s Al-Qahera News television late Monday. He said the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and U.S. President Donald Trump, represented \u201can international will declaring the war in Gaza is over.\u201d Al-Hayya said Hamas received assurances from mediators and Trump that \u201cgive us confidence that the war has ended for good.\u201d He said Israel has complied with aid deliveries in the crossings according to the agreement but asked mediators to pressure Israel to deliver more shelter, medical supplies and winterization items before the weather changes. Meanwhile, the head of Egypt\u2019s intelligence agency traveled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Israeli officials and Witkoff over the implementations of the ceasefire, according to Egyptian media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEL AVIV,(National times)- U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace. Also Tuesday, Israel said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n