Vance: Finding rest of deceased hostages ‘is not going to happen overnight,’ Hamas must disarm

US Vice President JD Vance says that recovering the 15 remaining deceased hostages in Gaza “is difficult” and “is not going to happen overnight.”

Speaking at a press conference at the US-Israel coordination center for the ceasefire in Gaza, housed in Kiryat Gat, Vance says disarming Hamas is likewise ‘going to take a little bit of time.’

“This is difficult. This is not going to happen overnight,” he says about returning the bodies of the hostages still in Gaza. “Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” he says.

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to get them,” he says, adding, “This is going to take a little bit of time.”

Addressing Washington’s response to Hamas carrying out executions of Palestinians in Gaza, Vance says the group must disarm, per the terms of the ceasefire plan.

“Our warning to Hamas; it’s very straightforward,” he says, adding, “The terms of the 20-point plan that [US] President [Donald Trump] put out there is very clear. It’s supported not just by Israel, but by all of our Gulf Arab friends.”

He says Hamas operatives can be given clemency.

“It’s that Hamas has to disarm. It’s that Hamas has to actually behave itself, and that Hamas, while all the fighters can be given some clemency, they’re not going to be able to kill each other, and they’re not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians,” he says, while stressing that “again, that’s going to take a little bit of time.”

“We’re talking about how to set up the security and humanitarian apparatus to put all this in place. But right now, where I stand, I feel confident that we’re going to be in a place where this peace lasts, where it’s durable. If Hamas doesn’t cooperate, then as [Trump] has said, Hamas is going to be obliterated,” the US vice president says.