Vance affirms that the peace plan for Gaza “is going better than expected” and rules out the deployment of US troops

The vice president of the United States, JD Vanceassured this Tuesday in Israel that The peace plan in Gaza “is going better than expected”, that its complete implementation will require “a lot of work and a very long time”, and that the entry of US troops into the Strip is off the table.

None of this has stopped him from threatening Hamas with “annihilation” if it refuses to disarm, in line with the president’s previous warning. Donald Trump.

Vance spoke, by the way, from the Kiryat Gat Civil and Military Coordination Center, in southern Israel. There American soldiers supervise compliance with the truce reached eight days ago. A truce that continues with much violence and accusations of violating it between the parties.

The mediation, led by American emissaries and supported by Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, seeks to enter a second phase of negotiations that requires political and security concessions that in the past frustrated any progress.

The so-called Trump plan, summarized in 20 points, calls for the complete surrender of weapons by Hamas, the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli Army from the Strip and a path towards a Palestinian state.

Vance will meet this Wednesday with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahuto also discuss the prospects of new normalization agreements between Israel and several Gulf countries. Netanyahu already claimed yesterday before the Knesset that his government and Trump’s share the objective of forging “new peace alliances” in the region.

And what about the return of the bodies of those kidnapped by Hamas? The vice president has asked to lower expectations. It is a “difficult” issue, he said, and it will not be resolved immediately. Hamas handed over the body of one captive on Monday and promised to return two others in the coming hours. Israel maintains that the group still holds 13 bodies.

Among the unresolved points of the plan are political control and security of the enclave. Washington’s proposal contemplates a technocratic management body under international supervision and a multinational force without the participation of Hamas. A senior Palestinian official close to the talks indicated, as reported by Reuters, that the Islamists would welcome this format as long as it had their approval and that of the Palestinian Authority.

At the same time, on the ground, the humanitarian situation is critical. The United Nations confirms that the entry of humanitarian aid has increased through the two border crossings opened by Israel. But the flow is far from reaching the 2,000 tons per day that the World Food Program considers necessary..

In fact, no shipments have yet reached northern Gaza, the area most affected by the famine.

Tension also persists around the “yellow line” that marks the military withdrawal of Netanyahu’s troops. Israeli soldiers have shot down a man for crossing the exclusion zone. And the Gaza Ministry of Health has published that seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours.