‘Gaza ceasefire holding,’ says Vance, downplaying Hamas violations

Vice President JD Vance says he expects Israel to respond to Hamas attacks but insists Gaza ceasefire remains intact.

By World Israel News Staff

Vice President JD Vance defended Israeli retaliatory strikes against Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, while insisting that the fragile ceasefire between the two sides remains in place despite repeated violations by Hamas.

Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill shortly after an IDF soldier was killed by Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Vance downplayed the significance of the attack, which came after Israel ripped Hamas for misrepresenting hostage remains returned to Israel a day earlier.

“The ceasefire is holding,” Vance said in spite of the violence. “That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there.”

The vice president appeared to question whether Hamas’ leadership was behind Tuesday’s attack, echoing the terror group’s denial a week earlier that it had been behind a deadly missile attack on an Israeli armored personnel carrier.

“We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier,” Vance continued.

“We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite it.”

The deadly attack on Tuesday came hours after Israeli forensics experts said that the human remains transferred by Hamas to Israel the day before did not belong to one of the 13 slain hostages still held by Hamas.

Instead, the remains were part of the body of another Israeli hostage, most of whose remains were recovered by the IDF two years ago.

The International Committee for the Red Cross, which has largely refrained from criticizing Hamas, issued a rare rebuke of the terror group on Tuesday, accusing Hamas of staging the recovery of the remains to make it appear as if they belonged to one of the 13 hostages still in Gaza.

“It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones,” the ICRC said.