Vice President JD Vance lauded President Donald Trump for his “very deliberate and consequential diplomacy,” saying his unconventional approach was key to moving the Gaza peace process forward.
“He actually broke the mold,” Vance said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Instead of doing diplomacy the same old way that had failed for 30 or 40 years, he gave people unusual authority to go get a peace deal done.”
Speaking separately to ABC News on Sunday, Vance confirmed that the administration anticipates the release of 20 hostages. “Of course you don’t know until you see these people alive,” he said. “But thank God we expect to see them alive here in the next 24 hours, probably early tomorrow morning, U.S. time, which will be later in the day, of course, in Israel.”
Vance pointed to a recent rally in Israel as an example of the shifting sentiment on the ground. When Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s name was mentioned, the crowd responded with jeers — but when special envoy Steve Witkoff invoked Trump’s name, the audience erupted in cheers.
According to Vance, the enthusiastic reaction stemmed from Trump’s decision to “break the mold” by empowering unorthodox envoys like Witkoff and Jared Kushner to deal directly with both Israeli and Gulf Arab officials.
He added that this strategy brought Israel and several Gulf states together around shared goals — freeing hostages and putting an end to the conflict. “This was very hard. It required a lot of work,” Vance told host Kristen Welker. “But I believe we are on the cusp of peace in Gaza for the first time in a very long time.”
Under the current ceasefire arrangement, Hamas must release by noon Monday the remaining captives taken during the October 7, 2023 assault that triggered the war.
Last week, Israel’s hostages coordinator, Gal Hirsch, said a special task force would be established to recover the remains of hostages whose bodies Hamas could not locate.
President Trump is scheduled to land in Israel on Monday, where he will address the Knesset before heading to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for an international summit focused on ending the Gaza war.
On Saturday, Witkoff and Jared Kushner addressed a large rally in Tel Aviv — which many Israelis hoped would be the last of its kind before the hostages’ release and the conflict’s conclusion.
The agreement, mediated by the United States together with Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, represents the initial stage of a truce between Israel and Hamas. It includes the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody.
“For two years we (have been) waiting for this day for this moment… All of us feel happy for the family, for the hostages, that finally .. we will see them,” said demonstrator Dalia Yosef, expressing gratitude to Trump.
{Matzav.com}
