“There are no American boots on the ground in Gaza,” Vice President J.D. Vance emphasized during a visit to Israel.
Vice President J.D. Vance supports progress on Israel-Gaza ceasefire
Vice President J.D. Vance expressed confidence in the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza at the opening of Israel’s Civil Military Cooperation Center.
Kiryat Ghat, Israel – The military facility is located in southern Israel, just north of Gaza, in an area that U.S. authorities had kept secret until this week, citing security concerns.
It’s an industrial building, full of concrete columns and artificial grass carpeted rooms with terrible acoustics.
From here, about 200 U.S. soldiers are tasked with maintaining the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Working with American allies, their goal is to build an international force that the Trump administration envisions to provide security to Gaza.
It has not been announced what this peacekeeping force will look like or which countries will participate. The United States is hoping that volunteers from outside the region, such as Arab countries and Indonesia, will be firmly on the ground.
The United States is just beginning to “envision” what its forces will look like to shore up the fledgling ceasefire, Vice President J.D. Vance said from his military base in Tel Aviv after landing on Oct. 21.
“We’re not going to force anything on our friends in Israel when it comes to the presence of foreign troops,” Vance said.
The vice president is one of several senior Trump administration officials who traveled to Israel this week to flesh out the next steps in the president’s 20-point peace plan. They also mediate disputes over the future of Gaza between Israel and countries with which it has strained relations or no diplomatic relations.
One such country is Turkey, which helped persuade Hamas to sign President Donald Trump’s ceasefire agreement. Whether the state will provide troops or financial and communications support for the stabilization forces is still under discussion.
America’s boots are not on the ground
U.S. officials have emphasized for several days that U.S. troops would be in a supervisory role and would not be fighting or stationed in Gaza, a point Mr. Vance emphasized at the start of a multi-day visit to Israel.
“There are no American boots on the ground in Gaza,” Vance said at a press conference. “What we can do is provide adjustments that will help.”
As envisioned by President Trump, the international force would train and support a vetted Palestinian police force, help prevent weapons from entering the Gaza Strip, with the goal of eventually replacing the Israeli military currently stationed in the enclave.
public execution
For Trump’s plan to work, Hamas would have to lay down its arms and agree not to get involved in ruling Gaza. But since the war with Israel was temporarily suspended, Hamas has made no such commitment and has carried out public executions of rivals.
The delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came as Vance joined Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in talks in Tel Aviv. They met for two hours over lunch at Ben-Gurion Airport and then attended a conference with military leaders.
Vance’s agenda also includes talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials.
Vance said at a press conference on October 21 that the Israeli government had been “very cooperative” in setting up the coordination center.
The vice president said he traveled to Israel to meet with U.S. troops stationed there and gain perspective on the conflict. He denied that accusations of ceasefire violations by Israel and Hamas prompted his sudden trip.
“This is not the end,” he said of the ceasefire. “We’re in a very good position. We’ll just have to keep working hard.”
Francesca Chambers is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. Follow her on X: @fran_chambers
