Vice President JD Vance downplayed the latest outbreak of violence in Gaza on Sunday, telling reporters that occasional flare-ups were to be expected as part of the fragile ceasefire process. “Hamas is going to fire on Israel. Israel is going to have to respond,” he said.
Vance emphasized that while setbacks were inevitable, the administration still believed the truce could hold and eventually lead to lasting calm. “So we think that it has the best chance for a sustainable peace. But even if it does that, it’s going to have hills and valleys, and we’re going to have to monitor the situation.”
The vice president also urged cooperation from Arab partners in the region, calling on Gulf states to take a more active role in enforcing the terms of the agreement and ensuring that Hamas is fully disarmed. “The Gulf Arab states, our allies, don’t have the security infrastructure in place yet to confirm that Hamas is disarmed,” he said.
Vance added that the administration would soon send representatives to Israel to oversee developments and assess progress on the ground. He did not specify who would make the trip, saying only that “a member of the Trump administration was ‘certainly’ going to visit Israel ‘in the next few days’ to monitor the situation.” He added, “it might be me.”
According to a U.S. official quoted by The Times of Israel, special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner were scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday, with Vance expected to follow a day later on Tuesday.
{Matzav.com}
