US Vice President JD Vance will visit Israel on Monday, alongside Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Saturday morning.
However, later on Saturday, Axios's Barak Ravid reported that the visit has been pushed back until Tuesday, citing two Israeli officials.
Both US officials are expected to discuss transitioning into the second phase of US President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote a letter to Vance, Witkoff, and the US administration, thanking them for their visit.
"We fear that our loved ones will be forgotten, that their fate will remain unknown for decades or even forever," the letter reads. "We thank President Trump, you, and the administration for the 30 hostages who were returned to us for rehabilitation and burial. Now, please help us finish the mission and bring our remaining 18 loved ones home.”
No negotiations will begin on phase two of Trump’s plan until Hamas returns all the bodies of the kidnapped fallen soldiers, senior officials told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Hamas has returned just 10 remains of killed hostages, as of Saturday, after returning the remaining 20 living hostages on Monday.
The US administration has conveyed messages to mediators, making clear that it opposes any delays in the return of the remains.
A source familiar with the details told the Post that Qatar and Turkey are pressuring Hamas on this issue.
Resumption of fighting if Hamas does not uphold agreement
Trump told CNN on Wednesday that he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal.
"Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that," Trump was quoted as saying to CNN in a brief telephone call when asked what would happen if Hamas refused to disarm.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday convened senior security officials to discuss Hamas’s refusal to return the bodies of the fallen and the next phase of Trump’s plan.
“I know exactly how many fallen soldiers Hamas is holding, and if we do not receive them, Israel will know how to act accordingly,” he said.
After the meeting, Netanyahu spoke with Trump regarding Hamas’s delayed return of the remaining deceased hostages in Gaza.
This is a developing story.