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Hamas said it has given a “positive” response to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, indicating it would enter negotiations that could raise hopes of bringing an end to 21 months of war with Israel.
However, several Arab media channels also reported that the militant group was seeking “minor and formative” amendments to the proposal, leaving it unclear whether Hamas’s response would be acceptable to Israel, or to Qatar, Egypt and the US, the three mediating countries.
“Hamas is fully prepared and serious about immediately entering a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework,” it said late on Friday.
The group said it had delivered its positive response to the latest proposal — which starts with a 60-day ceasefire — by international mediators following its own internal consultations as well as with other Palestinian factions and forces.
There was no response from the Israeli government during the Jewish Sabbath. Donald Trump said late on Friday night that he had not been briefed on the Hamas response but that “there could be a Gaza deal next week”.
The US president said he was “very optimistic” that a ceasefire agreement would be reached, before adding “it changes from day to day”.
The family of at least one Israeli hostage demanded an immediate cabinet meeting to discuss the Hamas response.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Washington on Monday, with Trump having made clear his desire for a ceasefire. Trump posted this week on Truth Social that Israel had accepted his proposal, later telling reporters he intended to be “firm” with Netanyahu.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” the president warned.
The Israeli military continued its assault on Gaza, killing more than 100 people on Thursday and Friday, local health officials said.
According to drafts of the proposal seen by the Financial Times and confirmed by two people familiar with the negotiations, Trump would “guarantee” that the conflict would be halted for 60 days. During this period more than two dozen living and deceased Israeli hostages held by Hamas would be released over five phases.
Hamas holds at least 20 living hostages, as well as the bodies of 30 more, all captured during its cross-border raid that sparked the war on October 7 2023.
It has demanded assurances that negotiations held during any ceasefire must move towards a complete truce before it can agree to releasing all of the hostages.
Hamas killed some 1,200 people in Israel during the October 7 raid, according to Israeli officials. Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 60,000 people, most of them women and children, according to local health officials, and devastated the enclave.
During the proposed two-month pause, the Israeli military — which controls about 65 per cent of the Gaza Strip — would agree to withdraw from sections of northern and southern Gaza, subject to additional “rapid negotiations”. It would also allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave through the UN and other international groups.
As in past ceasefires, Israel would also commit to swapping large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, many held without trial in Israeli military prisons.
Additional reporting by Myles McCormick in Washington