During a visit to Israel on Tuesday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance expressed confidence in the resilience of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, despite concerns from some officials in the Trump administration who fear the agreement may be tenuous, according to sources who spoke with CNN.

“The developments over the past week fill me with hope that the ceasefire will endure,” Vance stated during a press briefing.

He added, “I am very hopeful. However, I cannot guarantee with absolute certainty that the ceasefire will succeed.”

Vance refrained from specifying a timeline for the repatriation of all Israeli hostages or the disarmament of Hamas. He noted that these efforts would require “a bit of time” and emphasized the necessity of establishing security and humanitarian frameworks in Gaza.

“If Hamas fails to honor the agreement, there will be severe consequences. Nevertheless, I will not impose a strict deadline, as the president has also chosen not to do so. These matters are complex,” Vance explained.

Vance’s presence in the region is meant, at least in part, to ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains committed to the US-negotiated deal as some Trump administration officials worry he could work to thwart it.

One US official characterised it as “Bibisitting.” Another framed it as a “show of force from the highest-ranking person after the president himself” to make the administration’s view clear that the ceasefire needs to be durable enough to “outlast inevitable skirmishes.”

The sources added that the general belief among US officials involved in the negotiations is that the truce is most threatened in the short term, which is why the trip needed to happen so soon after Trump’s visit just last week.

The concerns reached new heights after Israel accused Hamas of carrying out an attack over the weekend that killed two IDF soldiers. Israel responded with waves of airstrikes that killed dozens of people in Gaza.

US officials worked to minimise the fallout of the strikes and ensure the ceasefire was not threatened, the sources said. And while Israel and Hamas each accused the other of violating the deal, both sides ultimately reaffirmed their commitment to the truce.

The vice president said on Tuesday that it is going to be a “constant effort” to “mediate these disagreements as they come up.”

He asserted the trip “had nothing to do with events in the past 48 hours.”

Vance was accompanied at the news conference by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, the key US architects of the deal. The pair are in Israel this week as the administration begins to work on the longer-term goals of the president’s 20-point peace plan for the region.

While there, Witkoff told Israel the country’s response to violence from Hamas needs to be proportionate to the violation, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter. Witkoff also emphasised that the next 30 days are crucial for the deal to hold and for talks to enter the second phase, the source said.

The Israelis, meanwhile, are ramping up pressure on the US to demilitarise Hamas before talks move on to the reconstruction phase, an Israeli official said.

All of this comes as Trump himself has argued both privately and publicly that Sunday’s attack on IDF soldiers wasn’t the work of Hamas leaders but part of a “rebellion.” He has said that some members of Hamas “got very rambunctious,” but he believes the group is still committed to the truce and negotiations, the sources said.

Trump did, however, threaten to have the group “eradicated” if ultimately necessary.

The president wrote on social media on Tuesday that “great allies” in and around the Middle East would “welcome the opportunity” to enter Gaza and “straighten [out] Hamas” if they continue to “act badly.”

Trump said he told these unspecified countries “not yet,” as “there is still hope that Hamas will do what is right.”