Vance Visits Israel, Tells Hamas to Disarm or Face ‘Obliteration’
“If Hamas does not cooperate, it will be obliterated.”
Vice-President JD Vance arrived in Israel as the ceasefire in Gaza entered its eleventh day. He is expected to shore up President Donald Trump’s peace agreement amid sabotage attempts by Hamas.
“Vance was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday,” the Associated Press reported. “White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, arrived Monday and Vance met with them upon landing.”
NOW: Vice President @JDVance and Second Lady Usha Vance arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel 🇺🇸🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/w7EF9QhLDW
— William Martin (@VPCommsDir) October 21, 2025
The visit comes after Hamas, on Sunday, attacked Israeli military posts in Gaza, killing two soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck back by hitting terror tunnels used in the sneak attack near Rafah, southern Gaza. The IDF restored the ceasefire and aid distribution following its retaliatory action. “The Israeli military said on Sunday a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after an attack killed two of its soldiers and prompted a wave of airstrikes that Palestinians said killed 26 people, in the most serious test yet of this month’s truce,” Reuters reported.
Welcome to Israel, Vice President Vance @VP . 🇮🇱🤝🇺🇸
Together, the 🇮🇱Promised Land & The 🇺🇸Land of the Free, can secure a better future, including the release of the remaining 15 🎗️ hostages. pic.twitter.com/fCvPjeWvqt
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) October 21, 2025
Addressing a press conference in Israel, Vance warned that Hamas will be “obliterated” if it defies President Trump’s peace plan, which includes returning the bodies of all remaining hostages and handing over all its weapons. “The Israeli government has been remarkably helpful in implementing the Gaza plan,” he observed. “The ceasefire is going better than I expected. If Hamas does not cooperate, it will be obliterated.”
The Jerusalem Post reported:
US Vice President JD Vance stated that he was hopeful that the Gaza deal between Israel and Hamas would hold during a press conference in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel on Monday.
“What we’ve seen last week gives me great hope that the ceasefire is going to hold,” he said. “Given the history of the conflict, I think everyone should be proud of where we are today.”
“I feel very optimistic. Can I say with 100% certainty that it’s going to work? No,” he added.
Vance then moved to thank the US’s regional partners as well as those who have reportedly signed on to be part of the peacekeeping force in Gaza.
“The Israeli government has been remarkably helpful in implementing the Gaza plan,” he said. “Thanks to our partners, both in Israel, but all across the Gulf-Arab states, Indonesia, and the Turks, we are doing an amazing thing here.” (…)
“What troops are on the ground in Israel is going to be a question the Israelis have to agree to. And I’m sure that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu will have opinions about that. But we think everybody has a role to play here,” he said.
Vance also said that the location of some of the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza was unknown, saying that the issue is “difficult” and would not be resolved overnight.
“It is a focus of everybody here to get those bodies back home to their families, so that they can have a proper burial,” he said. “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,” Vance said.
Vance also said that the US would “obliterate” Hamas if it did not disarm.
“If Hamas doesn’t comply with the deal, very bad things are going to happen. But I’m not going to do what the president of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it, because a lot of this stuff is difficult. A lot of this stuff is unpredictable,” Vance said.
JD Vance in Israel: "We are one week into President Trump's historic peace plan in the Middle East and things are going, frankly, better than I expected… This is going to take a very, very long time." pic.twitter.com/sBY6p2bmTa
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 21, 2025
Ahead of Vance’s arrival, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Egypt’s intelligence chief. Egypt’s cooperation is crucial in disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza. The neighboring Arab state shares an eight-mile border with Gaza, which has long served as the main supply route for weapons and ammunition for Gaza-based terrorist groups.
Netanyahu “and his professional team met with the head of Egyptian intelligence in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Among the topics discussed were advancing US President Trump’s framework, Israel-Egypt relations and strengthening the peace between the two countries, and additional regional issues.”
After eleven days of truce, Hamas returned only 13 out of 28 deceased hostages. Under the agreement brokered by President Trump, the Islamic terrorist group was obliged “to return all hostages—living and deceased—within 72 hours of the ceasefire’s entry into effect on October 10,” Israel’s Ynetnews noted.
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Comments
This is stupid. Why do they think Hamas will ever change? They won’t. So this becomes nothing more than drawing a line in the sand all over again, and then moving that line. Haven’t we had enough of that. Just shut up and let Israel do what it needs to do. They know best in this case.
Good
Much better than Jared and his side kicks remarks to Israel about Hamas
Made me want to throw up
Telling Israel to treat the Palestinians with respect
That it’s their responsibility in so many words
And
Steve Witkoff , bonded with a Hamas leader that lost a son, as he did.
What is that freak smoking
I actually believe the CIA had the report right, Hamas has no interest or intention of honoring the treaty
And the proof is in the pudding!
Hamas is going to continue this with the help of the local Arabs in Gaza. Their all goal is to eliminate Israel, all Jews, and all Christians. The peace plan will only work for the time it takes Hamas to arm to attack. What Israel and the USA should do is wipe out everything in Gaza so there is no Arabs left. Until that is done there will be no peace.
Stop talking and start obliterating, that is the only reasonable path.
This IS refreshing! No one else is saying how it should be!
Thank f88k adults are in charge now! Seems the pandering is over.
And here we go with the nonsense again. Does anyone actually believe that Hamas gives a hoot what JD Vance says? Heck, they obviously didn’t even care when Pres,. Trump was ranting and raving about total obliteration unless they did what he demanded. Hamas just gave him the middle finger salute and went about their jihad against Israel and the Jews with apparently no repercussions. So the chances are very good Hamas will just ignore VP Vance and do exactly what they want without any fear of obliteration.
I just wonder how many chances Trump, Vance, and Netanyahu give Hamas before they learn the lesson that you simply cannot negotiate with terrorists. Especially when those terrorists are waging a jihad with the goal of the total elimination of Israel and the Jews.
Vance: “You are altering the agreement, Pray I don’t alter it further.”
So obliterate them already. Stop threatening and start acting. Trump and company come across as “all hat and no cattle.” The reality: Egypt, Jordan and other countries don’t care about the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians.” They are not welcome anywhere except for (maybe) Europe. Few really care if they get obliterated. Let Israel wipe out the whole Gaza strip and be done with it.
They need to have vivid evidence of multiple attacks that give justification for extreme retaliation.
You’ve got to give them enough rope so they either hang themselves OR they comply. Either should be pretty easy to achieve for Hamas.
They are keeping the ceasefire in the headlines.
Showing the Israelis complying and trying.
They will spin this out as long as they can. Hamas will thwart, and Israel will take it.
And then, with cameras on, they will say enough.
And the Palestinian farce will end.