Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that an international security force, still in the process of being formed, would take the lead in disarming Hamas — a key challenge in reaching lasting peace in Gaza.
Speaking from Israel at the end of a visit focused on maintaining a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Vance told reporters the process of disarming the terrorist group "is going to take some time, and it's going to depend a lot on the composition of that force," according to The New York Times.
The ceasefire, which took effect earlier this month, follows a proposal outlined in September by President Donald Trump. That plan calls for a "temporary International Stabilization Force" to operate in Gaza.
However, several nations have been hesitant to commit troops due to uncertainty over the mission's scope and concerns about potential clashes with Hamas terrorists.
Vance did not directly address those concerns but reiterated that "no American troops" would be deployed in Gaza. He said U.S. personnel would instead focus on "supervising and mediating the peace."
The 20-point peace plan neither explicitly assigns the task of disarming Hamas to the international force nor does it provide a timeline for doing so.
The envisioned mission includes securing areas vacated by Israeli forces, blocking weapons shipments, facilitating humanitarian aid, and training a Palestinian police force.
Tensions have recently tested the deal, including renewed violence in Gaza and disputes over the exchange of deceased Israelis and Palestinians.
Further complications arose this week when Israeli lawmakers approved a preliminary measure to annex the occupied West Bank, an action prohibited under Trump's peace plan.
Vance called the vote "weird" and criticized the lawmakers behind it.
"If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it," he said.
"The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel."
Vance also discussed reconstruction efforts in Gaza, aligning with recent comments by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, who said rebuilding could begin in areas still under Israeli military control.
Vance left Israel shortly before Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the State Department.
Before departing Washington, Rubio said the administration might seek a United Nations "mandate" for the proposed international force.
The visits by Vance and Rubio highlight the administration's efforts to sustain the ceasefire.
Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Kushner were also in Israel this week, and Trump visited earlier this month to mark the ceasefire's implementation.
Rubio said U.S. diplomats will soon monitor the truce from a new Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel.
"There's a lot of work to be done," he said. "But we certainly wanted to make sure that we were there and ensuring that we had the right people in place at the coordination center, which is key to holding this all together."
The ceasefire resulted in an Israeli military pullback inside Gaza and an exchange of the last 20 Israeli hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
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