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VP Vance in Israel to Support Ceasefire10/21 06:02
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the
fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few
days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move
forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on
Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has
teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and
questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term
peace.
Also Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was
released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator
said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end
the two-year war.
Vance, who is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, will meet with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay in the region until
Thursday. His visit follows that of two top White House envoys. After arrival,
Vance held a working meeting at the airport with U.S. special envoy Steve
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump 's former White House adviser
and son-in-law.
Vance is to hold a news conference on Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is
also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being
held in Gaza and some of the living hostages released by the militants last
week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met in Tel Aviv with nine
hostages who were released from captivity last week.
Israel identifies another body of a hostage
Israel confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed
in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from
Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border. The 42-year-old was a fourth-generation
resident of the kibbutz and part of its emergency response team. He had four
children, including one born after the attack.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is still waiting for Hamas to turn
over the remains of 15 deceased hostages. Thirteen bodies have been released
since the ceasefire began.
The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that Israel
transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire. The
International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to the Nasser
hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, it said.
The new arrivals brought the number of bodies Israel sent back to Gaza to
165 since the exchanges started earlier this month, according to the health
ministry.
Hamas says it's committed to ending the war
After trading strikes earlier this week, Hamas negotiators reiterated that
the group is committed to ensuring the war "ends once and for all."
"From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined
and committed to seeing it through to the end," Hamas chief negotiator Khalil
al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt's Al-Qahera News television late Monday.
He said the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, hosted by Egyptian President
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and U.S. President Donald Trump, represented "an
international will declaring the war in Gaza is over."
Al-Hayya said Hamas received assurances from mediators and Trump that "give
us confidence that the war has ended for good."
He said Israel has complied with aid deliveries in the crossings according
to the agreement but asked mediators to pressure Israel to deliver more
shelter, medical supplies and winterization items before the weather changes.
Meanwhile, the head of Egypt's intelligence agency traveled to Israel on
Tuesday to meet with Israeli officials and Witkoff over the implementations of
the ceasefire, according to Egyptian media.
2 Israeli soldiers and 45 Palestinians are reported killed
On Sunday, Israel's military said militants had fired at troops, killing two
Israeli soldiers in areas of Rafah in southern Gaza that are under Israeli
control as per agreed-on ceasefire lines.
Retaliatory strikes by Israel killed 45 Palestinians, according to the
strip's Health Ministry, which says a total of 80 people have been killed since
the ceasefire took effect.
Similar strikes occurred on Monday in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where
Israel said militants had crossed the yellow ceasefire line and posed an
"immediate threat" to its troops.
The Israeli military said Monday it was using concrete barriers and painted
poles to more clearly delineate the so-called yellow line in Gaza where troops
have withdrawn to. It said several instances of violence have occurred.
Also on Tuesday, Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire, denounced Israel in
a speech by its ruling emir. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said his nation
would continue to serve as a mediator as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Tamim specifically called Israel out for its "continued breaches of
the ceasefire" in Gaza, as well as its expansion of settlements in the West
Bank.
Doctors in Gaza say bodies returned with evidence of torture
A senior health official in the Gaza Strip said the bodies of Palestinians
that Israel returned to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal bore "evidence of
torture" and called for an investigation.
Israel returned 150 bodies for Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire
deal, which required the release of all of Israeli hostages -- living and
deceased -- in return for the release of over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and
many bodies of Palestinians.
So far, only 32 of the returned bodies have been identified, according to
the Gaza Health Ministry.
Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, the general director of the Health Ministry, said in a
post of social media late Monday that some of the bodies had returned with
evidence of being bound with ropes and metal shackles, blindfolds, deep wounds,
abrasions, burns, and crushed limbs.
"What has happened constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity," he
said, calling for the United Nations to launch an "urgent and independent
international investigation."
The Israel Prisons Service denied that prisoners had been mistreated.
"All inmates are held according to legal procedures, and their rights
including access to medical care and adequate living conditions are upheld by
professionally trained staff," a spokesperson for the prison services said.
Israeli hostages released from Gaza have also reported being bound by metal
shackles and harsh conditions, including frequent beatings and starvation.
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