Netanyahu says before his meeting with Vance that Israel is “not protected” by the United States

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s prime minister hardened his stance Wednesday by declaring that his country is responsible for its own security and is not a U.S. protectorate as he prepared to discuss progress on a fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements before his meeting with Vance appeared aimed at allaying public fears that the presence of an expected international security force in Gaza could limit Israel’s ability to strike the devastated region to thwart future threats.

He watches: Vance says the Gaza ceasefire is going better than expected but there is “very difficult” work ahead

Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office while heading to the meeting: “We are not a protectorate of the United States. Israel is the one who will decide its security.”

Speaking to reporters before the meeting began, Vance acknowledged that the path to peace is full of major obstacles, but at the same time he tried to maintain the cheerful tone he displayed on Tuesday upon his arrival in Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel to meet Netanyahu on Friday.

“We have a very, very difficult task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas no longer poses a threat to our friends in Israel,” Vance said. “This is not easy.” “There is a lot of work to be done, but I feel very optimistic about where we are.”

In a meeting later Wednesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Vance again said he felt optimistic about making “peace a stick” and that the United States would continue to work on that.

The US Vice President also met with relatives of the Israeli hostages. He was accompanied by the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

Questions abound about the next steps for the ceasefire plan

There is still uncertainty about the deployment of an international security force in Gaza and who will govern the area. Vance said on Tuesday that officials were considering the formation of the security force, pointing to Türkiye and Indonesia as two countries expected to contribute troops.

Britain is also sending a small contingent of military officers to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire.

He watches: The International Court of Justice finds that Israel must allow UN workers to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza

As Vance’s meetings began, Israel said it had completed the identification of the bodies of the two other hostages that the Red Cross handed over to the Israeli army in Gaza on Tuesday.

Authorities identified the two deceased hostages as Ari Zelmanovich and Tamir Adar, who were killed on Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants, which sparked the two-year war.

Since the ceasefire began on October 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 13 ships in Gaza must still be recovered and handed over, a key element of the ceasefire agreement.

In Gaza, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that Israel had returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians. The Red Cross confirmed that it facilitated the transfer in line with the ceasefire agreement. This brings the total number of Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza for burial to 195, and only 57 of them have been identified by their families, according to the Hamas-run ministry.

Funeral prayers for the Palestinians

Dozens of people, some carrying Palestinian flags, gathered outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Wednesday to perform funeral prayers over the bodies of 54 Palestinians returned since the start of the ceasefire on October 10.

Mourners, including paramedics, watched as they prayed over the bodies covered in white shrouds. The bodies will be transported to the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for burial.

A senior health official in Gaza said some of the bodies returned bore “evidence of torture” and called for an investigation.

Israel did not provide identities for the bodies or explain their origins. These could include Palestinians who died during the October 7 attacks, detainees who died in custody or bodies taken by Israeli forces from Gaza during the war.

A charity says an armed group has taken over its facility in Gaza

A major Palestinian NGO providing mental health services to people in Gaza said on Wednesday that there had been an “armed raid and brutal takeover” of one of its facilities in the Strip last week.

The Gaza Community Mental Health Program said that an unidentified “armed group” stormed the facility in Gaza City on October 13, took over the building, forcibly evicted the guards and placed their families there.

“This blatant attack and serious crime represents a flagrant violation of all laws and customs,” the group said.

It was not clear why the organization waited more than a week to report the seizure, but it said that although it made immediate requests for authorities to intervene, there was “no concrete action” to return the facility “despite repeated promises to evacuate.”

They urged the Palestinian authorities to take immediate action and called on the countries sponsoring the ceasefire to “intervene decisively.”

Israelis bid farewell to a Thai hostage who was killed on October 7, 2023

Today, Israelis are scheduled to bid farewell to a Thai farm worker whose body will be returned to his native Thailand later in the day.

Sonthaya Okharsri was killed during a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was held in Gaza until it was returned last weekend.

A statement by the Abductees’ Return Families Authority said that a gathering would be organized at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv to bid farewell to Okharasri, describing him as a “devoted father and farmer who dreamed of establishing his own farm.”

In the 2023 attack on Israel that started the war, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 people hostage.

The war between Israel and Hamas led to the death of more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its statistics. The Ministry maintains detailed records of victims that UN agencies and independent experts generally consider reliable. Israel objected to it without providing its own tally.