Egypt’s spy chief heads to Israel as US Vice President Vance arrives for Gaza peace push

Cairo: Egypt's intelligence head Hassan Rashad will travel to Israel on Tuesday for a series of meetings with Israeli officials aimed at reinforcing a fragile US-backed ceasefire in Gaza, state-linked media reported.

The Egyptian spy chief will also meet with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is currently in Israel, Extra News reported.

The visit comes over a week into a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, brokered in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

US Vice President JD Vance also arrived in Israel to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end the two-year war.

Vance, who is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. His visit follows that of two top White House envoys. After arrival, Vance held a working meeting at the airport with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and son-in-law.

Vance is to hold a news conference on Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being held in Gaza and some of the living hostages released by the militants last week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met in Tel Aviv with nine hostages who were released from captivity last week.