The implementation of a Gaza ceasefire agreement is going better than expected and the truce can hold, US Vice-President JD Vance has said during a visit to Israel.
Vance also warned that if Hamas does not co-operate, it will be obliterated, while refusing to give a deadline for when the Palestinian group must disarm - a part of US proposals yet to be agreed.
US President Donald Trump, who brokered the ceasefire deal earlier this month, said America's great allies in the Middle East would be ready to go into Gaza with a heavy force and 'straighten out Hamas' if Hamas continues to act badly.
Vance's visits come after a flare-up of violence on Sunday that threatened to derail the 12-day-old truce.
Israel said a Hamas attack killed two soldiers, triggering Israeli air strikes which killed dozens of Palestinians.
Trump wrote on social media that there is still hope that Hamas will do what is right, adding: If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!
Vance is expected to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to start negotiations on long-term issues for a permanent end to the war with Hamas during his visit.
The vice-president praised Israel for being remarkably helpful in moving towards the deal's main goals, but said that a lot of hard work remained ahead to secure further steps.
The two special US envoys who helped negotiate the ceasefire deal, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, appeared alongside Vance at a news briefing in southern Israel.
Witkoff and Kushner held talks with Netanyahu after arriving in Israel on Monday.
Trump is said to have dispatched his deputy and envoys to Israel to keep up the momentum and push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.
It would involve setting up an interim government in the Palestinian territory, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.
Israel has previously said it would not join such talks until Hamas has returned all the deceased hostages it has been holding.
Vance, Witkoff and Kushner are also attempting to ensure the ceasefire deal, which is based on the first phase of the peace plan, does not collapse first.
Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament on Monday that he would discuss security challenges and political opportunities with Vance during his visit.
He also said Israeli forces had dropped 153 tonnes of bombs on Gaza in response to what he called a blatant breach of the ceasefire by Hamas on Sunday.
The Israeli military blamed Hamas for an anti-tank missile attack on Sunday that killed two Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza and then carried out dozens of strikes across the territory which hospitals said killed at least 45 Palestinians.
Afterwards, the Israeli military said it was resuming enforcement of the ceasefire, while Hamas said it remained committed to the agreement.
However, four Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire east of Gaza City on Monday. The Israeli military said its troops fired towards terrorists who crossed the so-called Yellow Line, which demarcates the area still occupied by Israeli forces.
Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, insisted that his group and other Palestinian factions were committed to the ceasefire deal and determined to fully implement it until the end.
Overnight, Israeli authorities confirmed that Hamas had handed over the body of another deceased Israeli hostage to the Red Cross in Gaza. The remains were identified as those of Tal Haimi, 41, who the Israeli military said was killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
Since the ceasefire took effect, 530 WFP lorries have crossed into Gaza with more than 6,700 tonnes of food. This was enough to feed almost 500,000 people for two weeks, but the agency said it could not reach its daily target of 2,000 tonnes of supplies because not all the crossings into the territory were open.
