On the 20th (local time), U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance boarded a private plane at Andrews Joint Base to visit Israel, according to AFP/Yonhap News. As a massive airstrike by Israel on the Gaza Strip endangered the ceasefire, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Israel to engage in diplomatic efforts to maintain the peace agreement in the Gaza Strip.
On the 20th, Special Envoy Witkoff and Kushner visited Israel and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Vice President Vance departed the U.S. that day and is expected to arrive in Israel on the 21st to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu stated during a speech at the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) that he would discuss the security challenges and diplomatic opportunities ahead.
The New York Times (NYT) assessed that Vice President Vance’s visit to Israel symbolically demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to maintaining the ceasefire agreement.
On the 19th, Israel conducted dozens of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing 45 Palestinians, posing the greatest crisis to the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas since its announcement on the 10th. The Israeli military stated that these actions were in response to a missile attack by Palestinian militants on an Israeli military vehicle in the southern Rafah area, which resulted in two soldiers killed and one injured. Hamas stated it had no connection to the Rafah attack and had lost contact with the militant groups in that area.
While Israel declared a “resumption of the ceasefire,” concerns about Netanyahu potentially breaking the ceasefire agreement have arisen within the Trump administration. A Trump administration official told the NYT that the purpose of the visit by Vice President Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Kushner to Israel is to prevent Israel from resuming a full-scale attack on Hamas.
During his visit to Israel, Vice President Vance is expected to discuss a second-phase ceasefire with Prime Minister Netanyahu, focusing on the composition of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) to be deployed to the Gaza Strip and methods for the disarmament of Hamas.
The core issue of the second-phase ceasefire is Hamas’ disarmament, to which Hamas has responded negatively, making the path to an actual agreement seem challenging. Recently, Hamas has been actively consolidating its control over the Gaza Strip by purging competing militant groups that had received Israeli support during the war. Last week, a video was released showing Hamas publicly executing eight people in Gaza City.
Tamir Hayman, a former Israeli military intelligence officer at the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies, stated that if Hamas regains control, it will become stronger, making disarmament efforts much more difficult.
The attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli forces in the Rafah region on the 19th, followed by Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip, starkly highlighted the fragility of the ceasefire.
The NYT pointed out that if Hamas cannot control the Palestinian militant groups, it will be difficult to implement the ceasefire agreement, and the likelihood of a complete Israeli military withdrawal will decrease.
Vice President Vance mentioned that there are about 40 Hamas cells, and while some might adhere to the ceasefire, there is a high possibility that many will not. He stated that for Hamas to be properly disarmed, some Gulf Arab countries need to deploy troops to maintain law, order, and security locally.
Analysts predicted that similar violent incidents are likely to occur more frequently in the future. The Associated Press noted that despite 11 months since the U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, small-scale Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue, suggesting that a similar situation might unfold in the Gaza Strip.
Localized attacks against Gaza Strip continue. The Gaza Civil Defense reported that four residents were killed in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip due to Israeli military strikes.