Vance and Netanyahu meet to push Gaza ceasefire agreement forward
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — As top U.S. officials and envoys visit Israel this week to support Gaza ceasefire agreementVice President J.D. Vance publicly sought to ease concerns in Israel on Wednesday that the Trump administration is dictating terms to its closest ally in the region.
“We don’t want a vassal state in Israel, that’s not what Israel is. We want a partnership, we want an ally,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about whether Israel had become a “protectorate” of the United States.
Netanyahu has expressed similar sentiments before, although he acknowledged less than two weeks ago that allies had differences as they tried to advance a ceasefire agreement.
“One week they say Israel controls the United States. A week later they say the United States controls Israel. This is nonsense. We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values, common goals,” Netanyahu said.
One of the areas of concern for Israel is that the international security force to be established in Gaza as part of the second phase of the ceasefire could limit the Israeli army’s ability to take action in the region if it perceives a threat to its security.
Vance acknowledged that the path to long-term peace is fraught with major obstacles, but he also tried to maintain the cheerful tone he struck when he arrived in Israel on Tuesday.
“We have a very, very difficult task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas, but to rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people of Gaza, while also ensuring that Hamas no longer poses a threat to our friends in Israel. It’s not easy,” Vance said. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but I’m pretty optimistic about where we are.”
Vance also met with relatives of the Israeli hostages. He was accompanied by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Netanyahu in Israel on Friday.
Many questions remain about next steps of ceasefire plan
Uncertainty continues about the deployment of international security forces to Gaza and who will govern the region. Vance stated that officials were brainstorming on the composition of the security force on Tuesday and mentioned Türkiye and Indonesia as countries expected to send troops.
Britain is also sending a small military contingent to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire.
While Vance’s talks were continuing, Israel announced that the identification of the bodies of two more hostages handed over to the Israeli army in Gaza by the Red Cross on Tuesday was completed.
Authorities identified the dead hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar, who were killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, during an attack by Hamas militants that triggered a two-year war.
The bodies of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire began on October 10. 13 more people need to be rescued in Gaza and was delivered, an important element of the ceasefire agreement.
Israel has returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday. The Red Cross confirmed it facilitated the transfer in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. According to the Hamas-run ministry, this brings the total number of Palestinians sent to Gaza for burial to 195; Only 57 of them were identified by their families.
Funeral prayer for Palestinians
On Wednesday, dozens of people, some carrying Palestinian flags, gathered in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis for funeral prayers for the remains of 54 Palestinians who were returned after the ceasefire began on October 10.
Mourners, including medical personnel, watched the prayers recited over the bodies covered in white shrouds. The bodies will be transferred to Deir El Balah, the center of Gaza, for burial.
A senior health official in Gaza said some of the returned bodies bore “evidence of torture” and called for an investigation.
Israel did not identify the bodies or reveal their origins. These could include Palestinians killed in the October 7 attacks, detainees who died in custody, or bodies taken by Israeli troops from Gaza during the war.
Charity says armed group has seized Gaza facility
A top Palestinian non-governmental organization that provides mental health services to people in Gaza said on Wednesday there was an “armed raid and brutal takeover” of one of its facilities in the area last week.
The Gaza Community Mental Health Program said an “armed group” it did not identify raided the facility in Gaza City on October 13, seized the building, forcibly expelled the guards and resettled their own families there.
“This blatant attack and serious crime represents a clear violation of all laws and norms,” the group said.
It was unclear why the organization waited more than a week to report the takeover, but it said despite immediate requests for authorities to intervene, “no concrete action” had been taken to return the facility “despite repeated promises to evacuate”.
They called on Palestinian authorities to take immediate action and called on countries sponsoring the ceasefire to “intervene decisively”.
Israelis will say goodbye to Thai hostage killed on October 7, 2023
Israelis on Wednesday prepared to bid farewell to a Thai farmer whose body will be returned to his native Thailand later in the day.
Sonthaya Oakkharasri was killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and her body was kept in Gaza until her return last weekend.
In the statement made by the Return of the Abducted Family Center, it was stated that a meeting would be held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv to pay their last respects to Oakkhasri and that he would be called “a devoted father and farmer who dreamed of starting his own farm.”
In the 2023 Israeli attack that started the war, militants led by Hamas killed approximately 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 people hostage.
The Israel-Hamas war has left more than 68,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in the count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel objected to them without specifying its own fee.
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This story was first published on October 22, 2025. Updated on October 22, 2025, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not issue a statement saying, “We are not the protectorate of the United States. It is Israel that will decide its security.” In response to a reporter’s question whether Israel was a “protectorate,” Netanyahu called the concept “nonsense.”
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Follow AP’s war coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
