Chief US diplomat Marco Rubio was due in Israel on Thursday, the latest Washington official to visit as President Donald Trump's administration kept up efforts to cement the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance warned during his own visit that the United States and its allies faced a tough task disarming Hamas and building a peaceful future for the Gaza Strip.

Vance met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the second day of a trip to Israel, part of a diplomatic blitz in support of the US-brokered plan to end the fighting, recover hostages and, eventually, rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.

"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 of Gaza, but al

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