By Alexander Cornwell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
KIRYAT GAT, Israel/CAIRO (Reuters) -The United States increased pressure on Hamas on Tuesday to disarm in the next phase of an already fragile Gaza ceasefire as President Donald Trump pushed to cement an end to the devastating conflict.
In a visit to Israel, Vice President JD Vance said the ceasefire plan was going better than expected but warned the Palestinian militant group it would be obliterated if it did not cooperate, echoing a Trump threat earlier in the day of “fast, furious and brutal force”.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated breaches of the truce since it was signed eight days ago, with flashes of violence and recriminations over the pace of returning hostage bodies, bringing in aid and opening borders.
VANCE VISITING ISRAEL
With the existing truce already shaky, the U.S. and mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are trying to push towards the far more complicated second phase of talks that asks each side to make concessions that have previously torpedoed peacemaking.
Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan demands the disarmament of Hamas, to which the group has so far refused to agree, a concurrent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a path towards a Palestinian state.
Vance, who will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, said he was optimistic about the truce, and held out the prospect of more Gulf states eventually seeking to normalise ties with Israel.
But he moved to modify expectations for a rapid return of the bodies of all hostages, a key Israeli demand, and said a full realisation of the ceasefire plan would take a lot of work and “a very, very long time”.
Major unresolved issues include governance and security control in Gaza, with Trump’s plan calling for the formation of a technocratic body under an international oversight board, and the creation of a multinational force, with no role for Hamas.
Vance, who was visiting a military base in southern Israel where U.S. troops are monitoring the truce, said the U.S., Israel and Gulf states were all agreed that though Hamas fighters could receive clemency, the group would have to disarm.
“If Hamas doesn’t cooperate, as the president of the United States has said, Hamas is going to be obliterated,” Vance warned.
DIPLOMACY
U.S. mediation has been led by envoys Steven Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was to meet Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Israel on Tuesday.
Egypt is hosting Hamas negotiators led by the group’s exiled leader Khalil al-Hayya as they discuss both the existing ceasefire arrangements and the difficult next steps.
A Palestinian official close to the talks said Hamas encouraged the proposed formation of a technocratic committee to run Gaza without any of its representatives, but with the consent of the group as well as the Palestinian Authority.
Underscoring the fragility of the truce, Qatar, another of the mediators, on Tuesday accused Israel of “continuous violations”. It and Turkey, which has used its role to bolster its regional position, have been key interlocutors with Hamas.
Vance said there would be a “constructive role” for Turkey to play as the truce moved towards the next stage.
RETURN OF BODIES AND AID DELIVERIES
Hamas released another hostage body late on Monday and said it would hand over two more late on Tuesday. That would leave another 13 bodies in Gaza. Israel believes Hamas could still return more bodies soon but has recognised that some remains would likely need a slower, more complex, process of location and retrieval.
Israel handed back another 15 Palestinian bodies on Tuesday, local health authorities said, taking the total it has returned to Gaza to 165.
Inside the enclave on Tuesday, more aid was flowing in through two Israeli-controlled crossings, Palestinian and U.N. officials said.
However, with Gaza residents facing catastrophic conditions, aid agencies have said far more needs to be brought in.
The U.N. World Food Programme said supplies were ramping up but fell far short of its daily target of 2,000 tons, saying this was because only two crossings into Gaza were open. It said none had reached the famine-hit north of Gaza yet.
Violence in Gaza since the truce has mostly been focused around the “yellow line” demarcating Israel’s military pullback. On Tuesday, Israel’s public Kan radio reported troops had killed a person crossing the line and advancing towards them.
Palestinians near the line, running across devastated areas close to major cities, have said it is not clearly marked and hard to know where the exclusion zone begins. Israeli bulldozers began placing yellow concrete blocks along the route on Monday.
The Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday at least seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave over the previous 24 hours, bringing to 68,229 the total number killed since the war began.
Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, with another 251 dragged into Gaza as hostages.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Alex Cornwell in Kiryat Gat and Maayan Lubell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Alison Williams and Nia Williams)
