U.S. Vice President JD Vance sought Wednesday to ease concerns in Israel that the Trump administration was dictating terms to its closest ally within the Middle East, as he and other top U.S. envoys visit Israel this week to support the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
“We don’t want in Israel a vassal state, and that’s not what Israel is. We wish a partnership, we would like an ally,” Vance said beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a reporter’s query about whether Israel was becoming a “protectorate” of the U.S.
Netanyahu — who will meet with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday — expressed similar sentiments while acknowledging differences of opinion as they push forward the U.S.-proposed ceasefire agreement.
“One week they are saying that Israel controls the US. Every week later they are saying the US controls Israel. That is hogwash. We have now a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values, common goals,” Netanyahu said.
One concern in Israel is that a global security force in Gaza — envisioned within the ceasefire’s second phase — could limit the Israeli military’s ability to take motion within the Palestinian territory if it perceives a threat to its own security.
Vance acknowledged that the road to long-term peace is difficult, with the ceasefire lower than two weeks old, but tried to keep up the buoyant tone he sounded Tuesday after arriving in Israel.
“We have now a really, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life higher for the people in Gaza, but in addition to be certain that Hamas is not any longer a threat to our friends in Israel. That’s challenging,” Vance said. “There’s lots of work to do, but I feel very optimistic about where we’re.”
Vance also met with relatives of Israeli hostages. He was accompanied by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
UN court rules on aid to Gaza
The International Court of Justice said on Wednesday that Israel must allow the U.N. aid agency in Gaza, often called UNRWA, to offer humanitarian assistance to the territory.
The Hague-based court was asked last 12 months by the U.N. General Assembly to find out Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the agency, the predominant provider of aid to Gaza, from operating there.
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Israel “is under the duty to conform to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities, including UNRWA,” ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said.
Israel has denied it has violated international law, saying the court’s proceedings are biased, and the country didn’t attend hearings in April. UNRWA has faced criticism from Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas.
Questions on ceasefire plan’s next steps
Uncertainty surrounds next steps within the ceasefire, including the territory’s postwar governance and the disarming of Hamas.
Vance said Tuesday officials are brainstorming on the composition of the international security force, mentioning Turkey — with whom Israel has had tense relations lately — and Indonesia as countries expected to contribute troops. Vance was flanked by flags from a variety of countries expected to participate, including Germany, Denmark and Jordan.
An Israeli official said the difficulty of Turkish participation in the safety force was discussed within the meeting between Vance and Netanyahu, and that Netanyahu expressed his opposition to Turkish troop presence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing closed diplomatic talks.
Meanwhile, in an apparent effort to embarrass Netanyahu during Vance’s visit, far-right politicians within the Israeli parliament on Wednesday took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill that might give Israel authority to annex the occupied West Bank – a move that the U.S. opposes.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It’s unclear whether the bill has support to win a majority within the 120-seat parliament, and Netanyahu has tools to delay or defeat it.
Returns of stays on each side
Israel said Wednesday it accomplished the identification of the stays of two more hostages that were handed over on Tuesday. Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz through the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants which triggered the war.
For the reason that ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the stays of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. One other 13 must be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element of the ceasefire agreement.
In Gaza, the Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians. That brings the variety of bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza to 195, of whom 57 have been identified by families, in line with the ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
Dozens of individuals gathered outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday for funeral prayers over the bodies of 54 Palestinians returned for the reason that ceasefire began.
A senior health official in Gaza has said a number of the bodies bore “evidence of torture” and called for an investigation.
Israel has not provided identification for the bodies or explained their origins. They might include Palestinians who died through the Oct. 7 attack, detainees who died in custody or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops through the war.
Israelis bid farewell to Thai hostage killed in 2023
Israelis were set to bid farewell on Wednesday to a Thai farmworker whose body will probably be repatriated. Sonthaya Oakkharasri was killed through the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. His stays were returned last weekend.
Hamas-led militants in that attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed greater than 68,000 Palestinians, in line with Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records which might be seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.