US vice president JD Vance has met Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel – and laid out the scale of the task before them. Earlier, he told Sky News he hasn’t rushed his visit to Israel because of concerns over the ceasefire. Follow live below.
Wednesday 22 October 2025 11:10, UK
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We can now bring you more pictures from the sidelines of today’s meeting between JD Vance and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Both were later at pains to emphasise the strong alliance and alignment between Israel and the US.
The released footage from a brunch that Netanyahu and his wife hosted for Vance and his wife Usha Vance (below) shows the quartet united in smiles.
It came, however, after reports in the New York Times yesterday that several Trump officials are privately concerned that Netanyahu may vacate the ceasefire agreement.
The vice president and the Israeli prime minister have just addressed the media in Jerusalem.
At this occasion, JD Vance acknowledged that the US and its allies in the region “have a very, very tough task ahead” of them in Gaza.
The main items on Vance’s to-do list include disarming Hamas and ensuring it is “no longer a threat” to Israel, as well as rebuilding Gaza and improving life for Palestinians in the territory.
“That’s not easy,” the vice president concluded.
But he also brings back the optimism and confidence about the stability of the ceasefire, which he talked up yesterday.
“These are days of destiny,” Vance said.
Vance had arrived in Israel yesterday for talks about the state of the ceasefire, joining Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
Over the past 24 hours, there had been “a lot of good conversations with our friends in the Israeli government but also, frankly, with our friends in the Arab world, stepping up and volunteering to play a very positive role”, the vice president said today.
He said the ultimate goal would be an alliance structure in the Middle East that “perseveres… and allows the good people in this region of the world to step up and take ownership of their own backyard”.
Netanyahu seconded the vice president’s comments, adding that “a strong America is in our interest and equally… a strong Israel serves America’s interest in stabilising this very unstable region”.
Yesterday, it had been reported that US secretary of state Marco Rubio could follow the vice president and Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in visiting Israel.
Now it appears that a two-day visit starting tomorrow has been confirmed, The Times of Israel reports, citing a US official.
According to the newspaper, the trip will be officially announced later today and will focus on supporting the implementation of the shaky ceasefire agreement.
The US vice president has now arrived at the office of the Israeli prime minister, according to the White House.
The Israeli side said JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance would be welcomed by Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara for a private meeting.
Vance will head to the residence of the Israeli president for talks with Isaac Herzog after the series of meetings concludes, The Times of Israel reported.
Sky News Middle East correspondent Adam Parsons was at JD Vance’s news conference in southern Israel yesterday and asked him whether his visit had to do with last weekend’s flare-up of violence in Gaza.
Israel had carried out airstrikes after it said its troops were attacked by Hamas fighters, with two soldiers killed during the incident.
Vance insisted his visit had “nothing to do with the events of the past 48 hours”, however, saying it had been planned months ago for more general reasons.
Find out more in the video below:
Israel has identified the bodies of the two dead hostages returned by Hamas last night. This brings the count of the hostages still missing down to 15, by Israel’s count.
One of the bodies was found to be 85-year-old Arie Zalmanowicz from the Nir Oz kibbutz, which he had helped establish after the Second World War.
He was kidnapped from his home during Hamas’s October 7 attacks and died about one month later.
A surviving hostage, who was held in a hospital with Zalmanowicz, said the diabetic died because he was denied treatment and nutrition.
The second killed hostage was named as Tamir Adar, 38, another resident of Nir Oz.
The reservist’s body was taken hostage after he was killed fighting to ward off Hamas’s attack as part of Nir Oz’s civil protection unit. His grandmother had also been kidnapped but was eventually released.
JD Vance’s arrival at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday has brought the number of high-ranking US representatives on the ground to three – the others being special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
There are reports that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, may follow suit later this week.
Though Vance denied this yesterday, it seems to reflect Washington’s concerns over the state of the ceasefire, which faced a tough test last weekend over clashes between Israel and Hamas.
Currently, the US appears to have three main messages on the ceasefire, which Vance reiterated at his news conference yesterday:
Vance – who spent the night at Jerusalem’s pre-war King David Hotel as is custom for high-ranking guests – is expected to meet both Israel’s prime minister and the president today.
Benjamin Netanyahu himself met with Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad yesterday, who in turn met with Witkoff – in part to discuss the second phase of Trump’s peace plan, which remains pending.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Gaza. We’re facing another day of busy diplomacy surrounding the fragile ceasefire agreement as JD Vance is expected to meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel today.
Vance spearheads the extended US delegation currently residing in Israel to calm the waves.
At a news conference yesterday afternoon, Vance tried to project confidence, insisting that the ceasefire was going better than could have been expected and that he had “great optimism” that it would hold.
He also reiterated the customary US warnings to both sides after his president, Donald Trump, warned earlier that Middle Eastern countries would send a “heavy force” into Gaza should Hamas fail to uphold its ceasefire commitments.
Meanwhile, Hamas handed over two more hostage bodies last night, bringing the number of returned deceased hostages to 15 of 28 in total, by Israel’s count.
Later today, the International Court of Justice, the top UN court, is also set to give an opinion on Israel’s legal obligations to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
That’s it for our live coverage on the conflict in Gaza today.
In the day’s big development, Donald Trump warned on social media that US allies in the Middle East were ready to send “heavy force” into Gaza to deal with Hamas if the group “continues to act badly”.
He added that an end to Hamas would be “FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL” if it did not do “what is right”, after escalated tensions between the group and Israel in recent days.
Trump’s vice president JD Vance denied he had travelled to Israel due to the ceasefire tensions, as he gave a speech after touching down in the country.
He said he felt “very optimistic” about the ceasefire holding but admitted there would be “hills and valleys” ahead as he opened the Civilian Military Cooperation Centre designed to help with peacekeeping.
Vance also called for patience from Israelis over the return of the remaining dead Israeli hostages by Hamas.
Reports also suggested US secretary of state Marco Rubio is planning to travel to Israel later this week or over the weekend, with Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner already in the country for discussions on the ceasefire.
You can watch our Middle East correspondent Adam Parsons‘ assessment of Vance’s speech below…
In the last couple of hours, Israel confirmed it had received coffins containing the remains of two more hostages from the Red Cross and transported them out of Gaza.
Although formal identification has not yet taken place, it would bring the total number of returned deceased hostages to 15, with 13 still missing by Israel’s count.
Elsewhere, the UK government confirmed it had sent a senior commander and a small number of troops to Israel to help international efforts to monitor the ceasefire.
The Israeli government also called for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to reconsider his stance on Benjamin Netanyahu, after he publicly admitted he would arrest Israel’s prime minister if he travelled to Canada.
The coffins of the two deceased hostages have been handed over to the IDF by the Red Cross within Gaza and taken across the border into Israel, according to Israeli authorities.
The Israeli Defence Forces confirmed the coffins entered Israel “a short while ago”.
They will receive a military ceremony, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
The bodies will then be transported to the national forensics centre, where an identification process will be completed.
If they are confirmed as hostages, it would bring the total number of returned deceased hostages to 15.
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