Vice President Vance on Tuesday said he is optimistic that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will last as part of President Trump’s plan for peace in the region, but warned it will take constant vigilance to hold all parties to account.
“I think that everybody should be proud of where we are today, it’s going to require constant effort, it’s going to require constant monitoring and supervision,” Vance said during a press conference a few hours after arriving in Israel.
“I feel very optimistic. Can I say with 100 percent certainty that it’s going to work? No. But you don’t do difficult things by only doing what’s 100 percent certain. You do difficult things by trying. And that’s what the President of the United States has asked us to do.”
Vance spoke while inaugurating the U.S.-led Civilian-Military-Coordination Center (CMCC) that is overseeing the ceasefire. The center is expected to be staffed by 200 U.S. troops, and a U.S. official earlier said that personnel from Egypt, Qatar, the Emirates and Turkey would supplement them. Vance said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to agree to any foreign troops in Israel.
Vance billed his trip as formally opening the coordination center, and dismissed that he arrived in Israel as a means to reinforce the ceasefire that has been strained under accusations of violations from both Israel and Hamas.
“There is this weird attitude that I’ve sensed in the American media, in the Western media, where there’s almost this desire to root for failure,” he lectured the press gathered for his remarks.
“It’s not the end. It is in fact exactly how this is going have to happen, we have people who hate each other, who have been fighting against each other for a very long time, we are doing very well, we are in a very good place, we are going to have to keep working on it, but I think we have the team to do exactly that.”
Vance spoke alongside Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the architects of the ceasefire and Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, who took the lead on standing up the coordination center.
“This facility will be the hub for the delivery of everything that goes into Gaza as we look to the future,” Cooper said.
The CMCC is viewed as a concrete American commitment to following through on Trump’s ceasefire, which requires Hamas to hand over over a dozen remaining bodies of deceased hostages it kidnapped from Israel during its Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.
Trump has given Hamas approval to exert control over areas of Gaza where Israel has withdrawn from militarily as the other terms of the ceasefire deal are being worked out. The U.S. and its partners need to stand up an International Stabilization Force to take over security control from Hamas and Israel, and a technocratic government needs to be formed to carry out governance in the strip.
Hamas did not agree to these terms in its initial acceptance of the ceasefire but Trump and his top officials moved forward with parts of the deal, which led to a halt in fighting and the release of the remaining 20 living hostages held by the group.
Trump has warned Hamas against furthering a retribution campaign against rival Palestinian factions and Palestinians it suspects of collaborating with Israel, and threatened the U.S.-designated terrorist group that it would be “eradicated” if it broke the ceasefire or failed to disarm as part of the peace plan.
Vance on Tuesday said there is no hard deadline for Hamas to disarm but repeated the president’s threats.
“Hamas has to comply with the deal, and if Hamas doesn’t comply with the deal, very bad things are going to happen,” Vance said.
“But I’m not going to do what the President of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it, because a lot of this stuff is difficult. A lot of this stuff is unpredictable.”
This story was updated at 12:43 p.m.
