VP Vance in Israel to Support Ceasefire10/21 06:02

   U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the 
fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few 
days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move 
forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace.

   TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on 
Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has 
teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and 
questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term 
peace.

   Also Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was 
released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator 
said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end 
the two-year war.

   Vance, who is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, will meet with Israeli 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay in the region until 
Thursday. His visit follows that of two top White House envoys. After arrival, 
Vance held a working meeting at the airport with U.S. special envoy Steve 
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump 's former White House adviser 
and son-in-law.

   Vance is to hold a news conference on Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is 
also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being 
held in Gaza and some of the living hostages released by the militants last 
week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met in Tel Aviv with nine 
hostages who were released from captivity last week.

   Israel identifies another body of a hostage

   Israel confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed 
in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from 
Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border. The 42-year-old was a fourth-generation 
resident of the kibbutz and part of its emergency response team. He had four 
children, including one born after the attack.

   Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is still waiting for Hamas to turn 
over the remains of 15 deceased hostages. Thirteen bodies have been released 
since the ceasefire began.

   The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that Israel 
transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire. The 
International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to the Nasser 
hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, it said.

   The new arrivals brought the number of bodies Israel sent back to Gaza to 
165 since the exchanges started earlier this month, according to the health 
ministry.

   Hamas says it's committed to ending the war

   After trading strikes earlier this week, Hamas negotiators reiterated that 
the group is committed to ensuring the war "ends once and for all."

   "From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined 
and committed to seeing it through to the end," Hamas chief negotiator Khalil 
al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt's Al-Qahera News television late Monday.

   He said the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, hosted by Egyptian President 
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and U.S. President Donald Trump, represented "an 
international will declaring the war in Gaza is over."

   Al-Hayya said Hamas received assurances from mediators and Trump that "give 
us confidence that the war has ended for good."

   He said Israel has complied with aid deliveries in the crossings according 
to the agreement but asked mediators to pressure Israel to deliver more 
shelter, medical supplies and winterization items before the weather changes.

   Meanwhile, the head of Egypt's intelligence agency traveled to Israel on 
Tuesday to meet with Israeli officials and Witkoff over the implementations of 
the ceasefire, according to Egyptian media.

   2 Israeli soldiers and 45 Palestinians are reported killed

   On Sunday, Israel's military said militants had fired at troops, killing two 
Israeli soldiers in areas of Rafah in southern Gaza that are under Israeli 
control as per agreed-on ceasefire lines.

   Retaliatory strikes by Israel killed 45 Palestinians, according to the 
strip's Health Ministry, which says a total of 80 people have been killed since 
the ceasefire took effect.

   Similar strikes occurred on Monday in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where 
Israel said militants had crossed the yellow ceasefire line and posed an 
"immediate threat" to its troops.

   The Israeli military said Monday it was using concrete barriers and painted 
poles to more clearly delineate the so-called yellow line in Gaza where troops 
have withdrawn to. It said several instances of violence have occurred.

   Also on Tuesday, Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire, denounced Israel in 
a speech by its ruling emir. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said his nation 
would continue to serve as a mediator as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

   Sheikh Tamim specifically called Israel out for its "continued breaches of 
the ceasefire" in Gaza, as well as its expansion of settlements in the West 
Bank.

   Doctors in Gaza say bodies returned with evidence of torture

   A senior health official in the Gaza Strip said the bodies of Palestinians 
that Israel returned to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal bore "evidence of 
torture" and called for an investigation.

   Israel returned 150 bodies for Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire 
deal, which required the release of all of Israeli hostages -- living and 
deceased -- in return for the release of over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and 
many bodies of Palestinians.

   So far, only 32 of the returned bodies have been identified, according to 
the Gaza Health Ministry.

   Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, the general director of the Health Ministry, said in a 
post of social media late Monday that some of the bodies had returned with 
evidence of being bound with ropes and metal shackles, blindfolds, deep wounds, 
abrasions, burns, and crushed limbs.

   "What has happened constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity," he 
said, calling for the United Nations to launch an "urgent and independent 
international investigation."

   The Israel Prisons Service denied that prisoners had been mistreated.

   "All inmates are held according to legal procedures, and their rights 
including access to medical care and adequate living conditions are upheld by 
professionally trained staff," a spokesperson for the prison services said.

   Israeli hostages released from Gaza have also reported being bound by metal 
shackles and harsh conditions, including frequent beatings and starvation.