US Vice President JD Vance held a press availability in southern Israel this evening (Tuesday), during his visit to the region to strengthen the ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
“We are one week into President Trump’s historic peace plan in the Middle East, and things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they would,” Vice President Vance stated at the start of the event.
During his remarks, Vance was asked about the role Turkey would play in enforcing the ceasefire and restoring order to Gaza, given the Turkish government's support for Hamas.
"We think everybody has a role to play here," Vance responded. "Some of that's going to be financial, some of that's going to be in reconstruction, some of that's just in communication with the various parties."
"We're not going to force anything on our Israeli friends when it comes to foreign troops on their soil, but we do think that there's a constructive role for the Turks to play, and frankly, they've already played a very constructive role," he added.
He acknowledged that Turkey "has supported Hamas is the past," but stated that "no one who is a party to this conflict can look at the conflict and not point at something that they don't like and that they disagree with ... The way that we're going to get to peace is to focus on the future, which is what the President of the United States has asked us to do."
When asked if the administration will implement a deadline for the return of all of the deceased hostages who remain in Gaza, Vance stated that "it is a focus of everybody here to get those bodies back home to their families so that they can have a proper burial."
However, he said that the process is "difficult" and will not "happen overnight," because "some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages - nobody even knows where they are. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work to get them, and that doesn't mean we don't have confidence that we will. It's just a reason to counsel in favor of a little bit of patience."
"Our warning to Hamas is very straightforward. The terms of the 20-point plan that the President put out there are very clear," he continued. "It's that Hamas has to disarm, it's that Hamas has to actually behave itself, and it's that Hamas - while all the fighters can be given some sort of clemency, they're not going to be able to kill each other and they're not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians. Now again, that's going to take time ... but right now, where I stand, I feel confident we're going to be in a place where this place lasts, where it's durable."
In a warning to Hamas, he stated, "If Hamas doesn't cooperate, then as the President of the United States has said, Hamas is going to be obliterated." However, he refused to set a timetable for Hamas to cooperate.