U.S. Vice President JD Vance told to the families of the hostage held in Gaza on Thursday that President Donald Trump will "fight every single day" to bring their loved ones back.
“Our message to the hostages is that President Trump loves you, he hasn’t forgotten your loved ones and he’s going to fight every single day to bring them home. That is exactly what he has been doing, and that’s what he’ll keep on doing,” Vance told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC, which had several relatives of hostages in attendance.
“It’s just a question of leadership. You need a president who is able to pick up the phone and say: ‘You’ve got to bring these people home. No, no no no. We’re not focused on that crap right now. We’re focused on bringing hostages home.’
“And then, when negotiations hit a wall because they always do, you need a president who gets on the phone and says: ‘Cut this crap out. You’ve got to make progress. You’ve got to keep that pace going.’ It’s leadership. I saw it behind the scenes."
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Vance also acknowledged the crucial role Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff played in the latest rounds of negotiations. “What the president did was empower… his dear friend Steve Witkoff as an emissary of the United States," he said. "He said: ‘Steve, you speak for me. Get it done. And if there are problems, call me.’ Steve Witkoff, with the president’s leadership, got it done.”
Earlier today Witkoff said that Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians, and the conversation about Gaza's future was being shifted towards how to create a better future for Palestinians.
Trump proposed on February 4 that the U.S. should take over Gaza, with Palestinians resettled in other places including Egypt and Jordan, a suggestion that caused an international outcry.
However, speaking at a Miami conference hosted by a non-profit linked to the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, Witkoff said that Trump's comments on Gaza were more about trying different solutions to those proposed over the previous 50 years.
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has left much of Gaza destroyed and littered with unexploded ordnance, and it was impossible to see how people could return.
"It's going to take a lot of clean-up and imagination, and a great master plan, and that doesn't mean we're on an eviction plan, when the President talks about this," Witkoff told the FII Institute event.
"It means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.
"For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects," he added.