US Vice President JD Vance has said Donald Trump is on the cusp of achieving “true peace in the Middle East”, with developments unfolding in Gaza.
Early on Sunday morning, he told ABC show This Week that Hamas has indicated it is holding 20 living hostages and President Trump's administration expects their release within 24 hours.
“Of course, you don’t know until you see these people alive, but thank God we expect to see them alive here in the next 24 hours, probably early tomorrow morning, US time,” he said. "Our country should be proud of our diplomats who made this happen and it's really a great moment for the world, too."
Mr Vance was speaking hours before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to leave Washington for Israel and eventually Egypt, to continue to push for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
At least 67,806 Palestinians have been killed and 170,066 injured since the war started in 2023.
During another appearance on the Fox News channel, the Vice President said Mr Trump's unconventional negotiation style should be credited for bringing about the truce deal.
"He didn't go down the failed pathway that previous presidents and other parties previously pursued," he said. Mr Vance also praised the role of Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, and envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in "bringing Gulf states together ... to hammer out a peace deal".
Mr Vance said the US has no plans for an American military presence in Gaza but that the White House has pushed for other countries to commit to stationing troops in the territory to ensure lasting peace.
"The President convinced the entire Muslim world really, both the Gulf Arab states, but as far in South-east Asia as Indonesia, to really step up and provide ground troops so that Gaza could be secured in safety," he said.
"It is going to take consistent leverage and consistent pressure from the President on down, and the President is very committed to doing that.
"There are going to be things that the people in Gaza disagree with Israel about, there will be things that the Israelis disagree with the Gulf Arab states about, and we see our role as mediating those disputes to achieve a lasting peace."
He said he expects Mr Trump to meet families of hostages during his visit to region.
Later, on CBS, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, gave more a nuanced answer on the potential for troops in Gaza. "We are going to support and commit troops within specific parameters," he said.
"We must have a mandate by the [UN] Security Council to endorse it and we need to specify the mission of the troops on the ground, which will be peacekeeping and providing training to Palestinian police."
The ceasefire deal promoted by the White House gained significant momentum last week and has placed the future of Hamas, particularly its presence in Gaza, in doubt.
Brett McGurk, the former US National Security Council's co-ordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said that amid all the anticipation for a lasting ceasefire, there would be "no hope" for any sort of "political horizon in the future" should Hamas remain in power.
"They are determined to use Palestinians, kill Palestinians, to remain in power in Gaza and it's a huge obstacle," he told CNN's State of the Union.
