Hamas suggested Wednesday it was open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel but stopped short of accepting an American-backed proposal announced by US President Donald Trump hours earlier, insisting on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The US leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war, sparked by the terror group’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.

Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work toward ending the war — something Israel says it will not accept until Hamas is defeated. The US president additionally said a deal might come together as soon as next week.

But Hamas’s response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said the terror group was “ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement.” He said Hamas was “ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war.”

Later Wednesday, Hamas confirmed that it was discussing the latest proposal it received from mediators and was holding talks with them to “bridge gaps” on returning to the negotiating table to try to reach a ceasefire agreement.

A Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, according to an Egyptian official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the talks with the media.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on Trump’s post, which appeared to be referring to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire that has been discussed over the past several months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Wednesday evening that Israel’s aims of both defeating Hamas and freeing the hostages are still both attainable: “I am telling you, there will be no Hamas,” he said during a visit to the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company headquarters in Ashkelon. “There will be no Hamastan. We are not going back to that. It is over. We will release all our hostages.”

Any suggestions that those two goals are in opposition are “nonsense,” he added, saying that “it works together. We will complete this together, contrary to what they say. We will eliminate them to the end.”

Throughout the nearly 21-month-long war, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over whether the war should end as part of any deal.

Hamas has said it is willing to free the remaining 50 hostages, less than half of whom are said to be alive, in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.

Israel says it will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and exiles itself, something the terror group refuses to do.

Trump views the current moment, after the war between Israel and Iran, as a potential turning point in the brutal conflict that began when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Hostage-ceasefire talks are being mediated by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, whose latest proposal, the authenticity of which was confirmed to The Times of Israel by two sources familiar with the negotiations, would see Hamas release 10 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza and return the bodies of 18 deceased hostages during a 60-day ceasefire. The rest of the hostages would be released if a permanent ceasefire is reached.

Israel has yet to publicly comment on Trump’s announcement. On Monday, Trump is set to host Netanyahu for talks at the White House, days after Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a key Netanyahu adviser, held discussions with top US officials about Gaza, Iran and other matters.

14 killed in Gaza strikes

Meanwhile, fighting continued in Gaza on Wednesday, with the Hamas-tied civil defense agency saying that 14 people were killed in strikes across the Strip.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal, who Israel has said is an active Hamas terrorist, said that five members of the same family were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a tent housing displaced people in the coastal Al-Mawasi area.

He additionally said that four people from the same family were killed in a predawn Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City, and another five in a drone strike on a house in the central Deir el-Balah area.

There was no comment from the IDF on the strikes.

The war has killed more than 56,000 in the Palestinian territory, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which cannot be independently verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The conflict has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward hunger.

10 days to surrender

On Wednesday, the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza said the leader of a clan supported and armed by Israel and securing humanitarian aid in the Rafah area must turn himself in to the “relevant authorities” — i.e., Hamas — for prosecution within 10 days.

In a statement from the ministry, Yasser Abu Shabab, an armed gang leader opposed to Hamas, was accused of treason, forming an illegal armed gang, and leading an armed rebellion.

The Abu Shabab clan operates in western Rafah, an area under Israeli security control. According to footage published by the clan, it has been securing humanitarian aid entering the area and has even established residential compounds. Israel recently acknowledged that it had transferred weapons to local actors as part of its effort to weaken Hamas, after reports that it had armed Abu Shabab.

The statement does not specify what measures would be taken if Abu Shabab failed to surrender to Hamas. Gazan media outlets have reported in recent weeks that Hamas has attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate Abu Shabab, whose gang is thought to have previously been involved in drug running and aid looting.

The ministry also called on the Gazan public to come forward with any information regarding his whereabouts.

Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, and while it allows the presence of smaller groups and various local clan power structures, it has allowed little space for political dissent or support for Israel, executing Gazans who have protested the terror group’s control of the Strip and many others it accuses of collaboration.