Day: October 22, 2025

On a visit to Israel, the US vice-president said Washington would not set a deadline for the group to disarm under the US-brokered deal

Hello and welcome to our continuing Middle East coverage.

JD Vance has expressed “great optimism” that the Gaza truce would hold, during a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up support for a ceasefire and postwar reconstruction plans.

The top United Nations court will rule on Wednesday on Israel’s obligations towards agencies providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, as aid groups scramble to scale up assistance after a ceasefire. Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague have been asked for an “advisory opinion” laying out Israel’s duty to facilitate aid in Gaza.

At a press conference in Israel on Tuesday, JD Vance referred to Hamas as a “terrorist organisation” and said the Israeli army was “defending itself” throughout the conflict. He said there is “a lot of work left to do” and that it is going to take a “long time” and thanked the Israeli government.

Vance said that unless Hamas disarms, “very bad things are going to happen”. But he declined to put a deadline on Hamas disarming, adding: “I don’t think it’s actually advisable to say this has to be done in a week.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said there had been “surprisingly strong communication” between the United Nations and Israel over humanitarian aid. He echoed Vance’s comments about people “getting a little hysterical about supposed incursions” of the ceasefire.

International organisations said they were scaling up humanitarian aid entering Gaza, while Hamas-led security forces launched a crackdown against what it called price gouging by private merchants. The World Food Program said it had sent more than 530 trucks into Gaza in the past 10 days, enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks. That’s still well under the 500 to 600 that entered daily before the war.

Israel urged Canadian prime minister Mark Carney to drop his pledge to honour the international criminal court’s arrest warrant for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he travelled to the country. Carney was asked in an interview with Bloomberg published last week if he would fulfil the commitment of his predecessor Justin Trudeau to arrest Netanyahu on war crimes charges if he came to Canada, to which he replied “yes”.

The Gaza health ministry said that Israel has transferred the bodies of 15 further Palestinian people 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 EU has been criticised for pausing sanctions against Israel’s government in response to Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, as the fragile ceasefire came under threat. After meeting EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced a pause on efforts to suspend preferential trade with Israel and sanctions against people responsible for fuelling the conflict on both sides.

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Liberal minister Jane Hume earlier described calls for the former prime minister to be removed as ambassador as a ‘little bit churlish’

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Sussan Ley has walked back her calls for Kevin Rudd to be sacked as Australia’s ambassador to the US, after earlier saying his position was “untenable” following comments from the US president.

The former Australian prime minister sat across from Donald Trump on Tuesday as he inked a deal on critical mineralswith Anthony Albanese in a bid to break China’s stronghold on the market.

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