In his statements, Vance ruled out, however, that Washington had set a deadline for the disarmament of Hamas, or that it intended to issue an ultimatum to it.
“Hamas must comply with the agreement, and if Hamas does not comply, very bad things will happen. But I will not do what the President of the United States [Donald Trump] has refused to do so far, which is to set an explicit deadline, because […] These things are difficult”he noted.
Despite this, he insisted on a “very direct” warning to the Islamist group that they must disarm, within the scope of the US President’s 20-point plan, which “are very clear” and deserve the support not only of Israel, but also of all “Arab friendly Gulf” countries.
However, he acknowledged that the disarmament of the Islamists “will take some time” and will have to be done through a “humanitarian and security device”, which, he said, is being discussed among the mediators.
“And if Hamas does not cooperate, as the President of the United States said, Hamas will be annihilated,” he warned.
JD Vance asked not to doubt the effectiveness of the ceasefire due to recent incidents in the territory, which he justified with the accumulated hatred between the conflicting parties.
“It’s not the end. In fact, it’s exactly how it should be when there are people who hate each other and have been fighting each other for a long time”, commented the North American leader, who expressed “great optimism” regarding the continuation of the agreement.
Hamas was accused by Israel of violating the truce on Sunday, following the death of two soldiers from Israeli forces, who, in response, launched heavy bombings on the territory.
But Vance recommended resisting declaring the end of understanding for every act of violence, just as he asked for patience regarding the bodies of hostages in the Gaza Strip who have not yet been returned to Israel by Hamas.
Under the agreement, the 20 live hostages held by the Palestinian militias were handed over on October 13, but since then only 13 of the 28 of those presumed dead have been returned, due to alleged difficulties in locating the bodies among the rubble of the devastated territory.
On the day that Hamas announced the delivery of two more bodies of hostages today, the North American vice-president acknowledged that the recovery of all the dead hostages “will not happen overnight”, since “no one knows where” some of them are.
“This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work to find them”, he stated, adding that “it’s just a reason to recommend a little patience”, because “it will still take some time”.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, which caused more than 68,000 deaths, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas, the destruction of almost all of the territory’s infrastructure and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.