Israel ‘not a protectorate’ of the US, Netanyahu says ahead of meeting with Vance

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s prime minister toughened his stance Wednesday by declaring that his country is in charge of its own security and isn’t an American protectorate as he prepared to discuss progress on Gaza’s fragile ceasefire agreement with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks ahead of his meeting with Vance appeared aimed easing public concerns that the presence of an envisioned international security force in Gaza could limit Israel’s ability to strike in the devastated territory to thwart future threats.

“We are not a protectorate of the United States. Israel is the one that will decide on its security,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office as he headed into the meeting.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting’s start, Vance acknowledged that the road to peace is strewn with huge hurdles but at the same time tried to maintain the buoyant tone he sounded Tuesday on his arrival to Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government announced that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel to meet with Netanyahu on Friday.

“We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel. That’s not easy,” Vance said. “There’s a lot of work to do, but I feel very optimistic about where we are.”

In a meeting later Wednesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Vance again said he felt optimistic about making “peace stick” and that the U.S. would keep working on it.

The U.S. vice president also met and relatives of Israeli hostages. He was accompanied by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Questions abound on next steps of ceasefire plan

Uncertainty remains over the deployment of an international security force in Gaza and who will govern the territory. Vance said Tuesday officials are brainstorming on the composition of the security force, mentioning Turkey and Indonesia as countries expected to contribute troops.

Britain is also sending a small contingent of military officers to Israel to assist in monitoring the ceasefire.

As Vance’s meetings got underway, Israel said it completed the identification of the bodies of two more hostages that were handed over by the Red Cross to the Israeli military in Gaza on Tuesday.

Authorities identified the deceased hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar who were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, which triggered the two-year war.

Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element to the ceasefire agreement.

In Gaza, the Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians. The Red Cross confirmed that it facilitated the transfer in line with the ceasefire agreement. That brings the total number of the bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza for burial to 195, only 57 of whom have been identified by their families, according to the Hamas-run ministry.

Funeral prayers for Palestinians

Dozens of people, some carrying Palestinian flags, gathered outside the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday for funeral prayers over the bodies of 54 Palestinians that had been returned from the Oct. 10 start of the ceasefire.

Mourners, including paramedics, watched as the prayers were offered over the bodies, clad in white shrouds. The bodies will be transported to Gaza’s central city of Deir al-Balah for burial.

A senior health official in Gaza said some of bodies that have been returned bore “evidence of torture” and called for an investigation.

Israel has not provided identification for the bodies or explained their origins. They could include Palestinians who died during the Oct. 7 attacks, detainees who died in custody or bodies that were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops during the war.

Charity says an armed group took over its Gaza facility

A top Palestinian nongovernmental organization that offers mental health services to people in Gaza said Wednesday that there had been an “armed raid and brutal takeover” of one its facilities in the territory last week.

The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme said an “armed group” it didn’t identify stormed the facility in Gaza City on Oct. 13, seized the building, expelled guards by force and put up their own families there.

“This blatant attack and serious crime represents a flagrant violation of all laws and norms,” the group said.

It was unclear why the organization waited more than a week to report the takeover, but it said that although it had made immediate requests for authorities to intervene, there had been no “concrete action” to return the facility “despite repeated promises to evacuate.”

They urged Palestinian authorities to act immediately and called on countries sponsoring the ceasefire to “intervene decisively.”

Israelis to bid farewell to a Thai hostage killed on Oct. 7, 2023

Israelis were set on Wednesday to bid farewell to a Thai farmworker whose body will be repatriated to his native Thailand later in the day.

Sonthaya Oakkharasri was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and his body was held in Gaza until it was returned last weekend.

A statement by the Families’ Headquarters for the Return of the Abductees said a gathering will be held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv to pay last respects to Oakkharasri, calling him a “devoted father and farmer who dreamed of establishing his own farm.”

In the 2023 attack on Israel that started the war, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people as hostages.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

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Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press