The implementation of a Gaza ceasefire agreement is going better than expected and the truce can hold, US Vice-President JD Vance has said during a visit to Israel.
Vance also warned that if Hamas does not co-operate, it will be obliterated, while refusing to give a deadline for when the Palestinian group must disarm - a part of US proposals yet to be agreed.
US President Donald Trump, who brokered the ceasefire deal earlier this month, said America's great allies in the Middle East would be ready to go into Gaza with a heavy force and 'straighten out Hamas' if Hamas continues to act badly.
Vance's visits come after a flare-up of violence on Sunday that threatened to derail the 12-day-old truce.
Israel said a Hamas attack killed two soldiers, triggering Israeli air strikes which killed dozens of Palestinians.
Trump wrote on social media that there is still hope that Hamas will do what is right, adding: If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!
Vance is expected to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to start negotiations on long-term issues for a permanent end to the war with Hamas during his visit.
The vice-president praised Israel for being remarkably helpful in moving towards the deal's main goals, but said that a lot of hard work remained ahead to secure further steps.
The two special US envoys who helped negotiate the ceasefire deal, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, appeared alongside Vance at a news briefing in southern Israel.
Witkoff and Kushner held talks with Netanyahu after arriving in Israel on Monday.
Trump is said to have dispatched his deputy and envoys to Israel to keep up the momentum and push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.
It would involve setting up an interim government in the Palestinian territory, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.
Israel has previously said it would not join such talks until Hamas has returned all the deceased hostages it has been holding.
Vance, Witkoff and Kushner are also attempting to ensure the ceasefire deal, which is based on the first phase of the peace plan, does not collapse first.
However, four Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire east of Gaza City on Monday. The Israeli military said its troops fired towards terrorists who crossed the so-called Yellow Line, which demarcates the area still occupied by Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, the UN's World Food Programme stressed that sustaining the ceasefire was vital to delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to the territory.
