US Vice President JD Vance expressed "great optimism" over the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying its implementation would require "constant monitoring and supervision".
"We are doing very well. We are in a very good place. We're going to have to keep working on it," Mr Vance said during a press conference in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, where a US-led mission is monitoring the Gaza ceasefire.
"I think that everybody should be proud of where we are today. It's going to require constant effort. It's going to require constant monitoring and supervision," he added.
It comes as US President Donald Trump said that allied nations in the Middle East are prepared to send troops into Gaza, at his request, to confront Hamas if the group does not cease its alleged violations of his peace plan.
The threat came a day after Mr Trump warned Hamas would be "eradicated" if the group did not meet expectations of the agreement, which brought a fragile ceasefire to the two-year war with Israel.
"Numerous of our now great allies in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have... informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into Gaza with a heavy force and 'straighten our (sic) Hamas' if Hamas continues to act badly," President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The post came as US Vice President JD Vance visited Israel with two other top Trump envoys, seeking to shore up the peace plan after weekend violence in Gaza raised fears the truce could quickly collapse.
Watch: 'Great optimism' Gaza ceasefire will hold, says Vance
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are already in the country, where they met Israeli hostages released by the militant group after two years of captivity in Gaza.
"Welcome to Israel, Vice President Vance," Israel's foreign ministry posted on social media, along with a photo of Mr Vance and his wife stepping off the plane.
"Together, the Promised Land and The Land of the Free, can secure a better future, including the release of the remaining 15 hostages," it added.
Hamas said it would return the bodies of two more hostages this evening as part of the ceasefire deal.
The militant group's armed wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it "will hand over the bodies of two Israeli prisoners that were exhumed today".
The bodies are set to be handed over at 9pm Gaza time (6pm Irish time).
Read more: Latest Middle East stories
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Mr Vance is to meet Mr Witkoff, Mr Kushner and US military experts monitoring the ceasefire.
According to Israeli media reports, he will hold talks with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem tomorrow.
The two sides have accused each other of repeated breaches of the truce since it was formally agreed earlier this month.
Welcome to Israel, Vice President Vance @VP . 🇮🇱🤝🇺🇸
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 21, 2025
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/m7uEER4Xd9
After Israel said that Hamas killed two soldiers on Sunday and accused the group of stalling the handover of hostages' bodies, it launched a wave of strikes on the territory, later saying that it had "renewed enforcement" of the ceasefire.
The United States is redoubling efforts to cement the fragile agreement that President Trump helped to broker.
"We made a deal with Hamas that they're going to be very good, they're going to behave, they're going to be nice," he told reporters at the White House as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
"And if they're not, we're going to go and we're going to eradicate them, if we have to. They'll be eradicated, and they know that."
US President Trump says Hamas will be handled 'toughly but properly'
"The dynamic keeps going back and forth," said Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel for the International Crisis Group (ICG).
"Trump is on the one hand letting Israel do what it wants, and on the other hand, at the end of the day, he wants the ceasefire to hold.
"Netanyahu is playing both approaches ... He's talking about peace and giving peace a chance ... And at the same time, he's bombing Gaza and he's trying to condition aid again," she added.
President Trump said he believes the truce is holding and that Hamas militants understand what will happen if they breach it.
"They'll be eradicated, and they know that," he told reporters at the White House.
"They got very rambunctious, and they did things that they shouldn't be doing, and if they keep doing it, then we're going to go in and straighten it out, and it'll happen very quickly."
Mr Trump said that Hamas is far weaker, especially as regional backer Iran is unlikely to step in on its behalf following US and Israeli strikes this year.
"They don't have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they're not good, they'll be eradicated."
Hamas has denied any knowledge of Sunday morning's deadly violence in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Israel responded after the soldiers' deaths with an intense wave of bombings that killed 45 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
Egypt's intelligence head Hassan Rashad is also in Israel to reinforce the ceasefire, according to Mr Netanyahu's office and Egyptian state-linked media, and is reportedly due to meet Mr Witkoff.
US ally and fellow truce mediator Qatar accused Israel of what its leader called the "continued violation" of the 11-day-old ceasefire.
"We reiterate our condemnation of all Israeli violations and practices in Palestine, particularly the transformation of the Gaza Strip into an area unfit for human life," Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said.
Hamas' Gaza leader, in Cairo for talks with Egypt and Qatar, issued a statement expressing confidence the ceasefire will hold.
"What we heard from the mediators and from the US president reassures us that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has ended," Khalil al-Hayya said.
He insisted that Hamas was serious about retrieving the 15 remaining hostage bodies, but warned that the search has been hampered by the level of destruction in the territory.
Both sides said they are committed to the truce despite the weekend's violence.
Israel confirmed that Hamas handed over the body of a deceased hostage yesterday, meaning that 13 of the 28 bodies it pledged to return are back in Israel.
"Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffin of a missing hostage who was handed over to the IDF (military) and Shin Bet forces inside the Gaza Strip," a statement from the prime minister's office said.
The military and Shin Bet later confirmed the remains were in Israel and being sent to "the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out".
A senior Hamas official said the group's armed wing had handed over the captive's remains to the Red Cross after receiving them from the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades - the armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist movement the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Mr Netanyahu's office said: "We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all of the deceased hostages, every last one of them."
The Israeli leader - who is under pressure from hardliners in his government to abandon the deal and resume the fighting - said that he and Mr Vance would discuss "the security challenges we face and the diplomatic opportunities before us".
The ceasefire agreement proposes an ambitious roadmap for Gaza's future, but its implementation has quickly faced challenges.
Under Mr Trump's 20-point plan, Israeli forces have withdrawn beyond the so-called "Yellow Line".
This leaves them in control of around half of Gaza, including the territory's borders, but not its main cities.
