The United States has increased pressure on Hamas to disarm in the next phase of an already fragile Gaza ceasefire as US president Donald Trump pushed to cement an end to the devastating conflict.
In a visit to Israel, US vice-president JD Vance said on Tuesday that the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire plan was “going better than expected,” but warned the Palestinian militant group it would be obliterated if it did not co-operate.
He echoed another warning issued by Mr Trump, who said on social media that many of the United States’ allies in the Middle East would welcome the opportunity to go into Gaza with a heavy force and “straighten out Hamas” if it “continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us”.
The president said that he told these countries that if Hamas did not do “what was right,” an end to Hamas would be “fast, furious and brutal”.
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NBC, quoting an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) source, reported that Hamas still has between 10,000 and 20,000 fighters after reportedly losing about 20,000 others during the war. According to the source, up to 90 per cent of the militant group’s rockets have been destroyed.
Mr 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.
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Mr Vance visited a US military base set up in southern Israel to co-ordinate the Gaza ceasefire implementation on the first day of a two-day visit to shore up the fragile ceasefire.
He cautioned that it will take time to recover all the bodies of the hostages still in Gaza. “Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” he said.
And he reiterated that Hamas must disarm although Washington was not setting a deadline, and he warned that “if Hamas does not co-operate it will be obliterated”.
Speaking after him, US envoy Jared Kushner stressed that no reconstruction funds will be going into areas controlled by Hamas, but that there are “considerations happening now” to start reconstruction in Israeli-controlled territory.
He said that the reconstruction would give “Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live.”
Mr Kushner arrived in Israel together with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday and met Mr Netanyahu and some of the 20 living hostages who were released under the ceasefire plan.
The IDF remain in control of the eastern half of the coastal enclave, adjacent to the Israeli border, and Israel has threatened to renew hostilities if Hamas does not disarm and hand over all the remaining bodies of deceased hostages.
The body of Tal Haimi, taken from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7th, was returned on Monday night and two more bodies were expected to be transferred on Tuesday night. That would still leave 13 bodies in Gaza.
The United Nations World Food Programme said that supplies into Gaza were ramping up after the ceasefire went into effect, but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tons because only two crossings are open, and none to the famine-hit north of the enclave.
The Palestinian education ministry said Tuesday that the number of students killed in Gaza since October 7th, 2023, has risen to almost 20,000, with more than 30,000 wounded.
According to the ministry, 179 government schools in the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed, along with 63 university buildings.
More than 100 schools belonging to the Unrwa, the United Nations refugee agency, and another 118 government schools, have been damaged in air strikes and demolitions.
