US VP Vance to arrive in ‘Israel’ on Tuesday

The Trump administration has redoubled its efforts to bolster a fragile ceasefire in Gaza after a flare-up of violence, with Vice President JD Vance due in ‘Israel’ on Tuesday hot on the heels of two high-level envoys.

Despite incidents over the weekend, both sides have said they are committed to the US-backed truce, and Donald Trump himself said Monday that he would give Hamas a chance to "behave" or else be "eradicated".

The ultimatum came as Hamas returned the body of another dead captive under the ceasefire deal, with the ‘Israeli’ military confirming the remains were back in ‘Israel’ where they would be positively identified.

Prior to the latest handover, Hamas had given back 12 captives' bodies out of the 28 it had pledged to return, but it says it needs time and technical assistance to recover them all.

The truce, which Trump helped to broker, came under threat over the weekend when two ‘Israeli’ soldiers were killed in Gaza's south.

In response, ‘Israel’ carried out dozens of strikes claiming it was targeting Hamas across the territory on Sunday -- using 153 tonnes of bombs, according to Netanyahu -- and accused the group of "a blatant violation" of the ceasefire, an accusation it denied.

"We made a deal with Hamas that they're going to be very good, they're going to behave, they're going to be nice," Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that "if they're not, we're going to go and we're going to eradicate them".

Trump clarified that American forces would not be involved, but "Israel would go in in two minutes, if I asked them".

"But right now, we haven't said that. We're going to give it a little chance," he added.

Trump had previously said that as far as he was concerned, the ceasefire was still in effect.

His special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Netanyahu on Monday to discuss recent developments, Shosh Bedrosian, spokeswoman for the prime minister's office, told journalists.

And Netanyahu later told parliament that Vice President Vance would arrive in ‘Israel’ on Tuesday for discussions on "two things... the security challenges we face and the diplomatic opportunities before us".