ISTANBUL

US Vice President JD Vance, who is on an official visit to Israel, met Wednesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the presidential office in West Jerusalem.

Following their meeting, the two spoke to the press on the ceasefire agreement in Gaza reached earlier this month between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

“We're here to talk about peace,” Vance said. “We're here to talk about how to ensure that the peace agreement that started about a week ago sticks, that we move into phase two, into phase three with success,” he added.

“As the president said, there will be torments along the way. It will be difficult, but I feel very optimistic based on my conversation with our Israeli friends and also with our Gulf Arab friends that it's possible that we actually can make peace stick,” he added.

Vance emphasized that the administration’s goal is to create the kind of environment where “our Gulf Arab friends and our Israeli friends can build a better Middle East for everybody.”

“We think that it's in the best interest of the United States. We also think that it's in the best interest of everybody who lives here. So we'll keep on working on it and working on it together,” he added.

Herzog told Vance that he is a “huge fan” of his book Hillbilly Elegy, calling it incredible.

“I was always impressed by your story and the way it was told,” he said.

The Israeli president also said that his country is “grateful to President Donald Trump for his steadfast insistence on moving forward. We must move forward. We must offer hope for the region, for Israel, for our Palestinian neighbors, and for the future of our children.”

Herzog referred to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Jewish extremist two years after he signed the Oslo Accords with then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying he was assassinated “in the plight for peace.”

“He said that the torments of peace are much better than the agony of war. I truly believe that the fact you're here is another brick in building the future for peace,” he said.

“We insist and want to see all of our hostages back for a respectful burial,” he added.

As his multi-day visit nears an end, Vance is expected to meet with Israeli Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

He is also expected to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.