US President Donald Trump said that Israel has taken a significant step towards finalising a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
He said Israel has agreed to the "necessary conditions" to finalise the ceasefire.
During its 60-day duration, "we will work with all parties to end the war," Mr Trump said on Truth Social.
"The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring peace, will deliver this final proposal. 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."
His comments come after he said he will push for a Gaza ceasefire next week and be “very firm” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will visit Washington, on the need to end the 20-month war.
Mr Trump said he will discuss the situations in Gaza and Iran in a White House meeting with Mr Netanyahu. A senior Israeli official, Ron Dermer, has been in Washington holding talks before the meeting as the US, Egypt and Qatar push for a truce.
“We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening some time next week,” Mr Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Florida. “We want to get the hostages out.”
Later, during a tour of a migrant detention centre in Florida, Mr Trump was asked how tough he would be with Mr Netanyahu on ending the war. “Very firm,” he replied. “But he wants it too ... he wants to end it too.”
Hamas officials have said the group is engaging positively with mediators, but that the fate of a Gaza ceasefire lies in talks between the US and Israel. “What matters to us is stopping the aggression and the massacres. We hope something positive will happen on this front,” a Hamas official based in Beirut said.
“The problem lies with Netanyahu and his government, which does not respond to the mediators’ calls to halt the aggression, release the prisoners, allow aid into Gaza, and withdraw.”
A second Hamas official said: “The Israelis and Americans are discussing matters among themselves. We are waiting for what will come out of those discussions.
“There are positive signals from the Israelis and Americans, but there is no reliance on Mr Trump given his historical positions on Hamas, which are far from promising."
Israel and Hamas remain far apart on the terms of a possible truce and hostage deal in Gaza. Mr Trump's upbeat comments on the prospect of an agreement were premature, sources said.
“The mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US don't see that a deal can be reached any time soon,” one of the sources said. “You only need to listen to Hamas and Israeli negotiators talking about their conditions to realise that there's no way a deal will be reached within in a week.”
Contact between Hamas and Israel on one side and mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US on the other has increased over the past week in Cairo, with the objective of finding enough common ground to hold another round of talks, said the sources.
They said Israel, with US backing, has rigidly stood by its long-standing demands that Hamas surrender its arms and dismantle its military capabilities, including its network of underground tunnels and hardware manufacturing sites.
Hamas has categorically refused to give up its arms but signalled it was open to discussing laying down its weapons and not being part of the postwar government or reconstruction of the enclave. It has also suggested it was prepared to agree to a demand that its leaders leave Gaza to live in exile abroad but only on condition that Israel does not pursue them.
Israel, said the sources, has meanwhile been threatening to pursue Hamas leaders in Gaza if the group does not accept a temporary ceasefire during which it releases the remaining hostages. “Israel and the US have made it clear they don't want another Lebanon in Gaza,” said another source, alluding to decades of the Iran-backed Hezbollah operating in that country as a “resistance” group outside state authority.
“Hamas is in a tenuous position. It has lost much in this war, with its top-tier military and political leaders eliminated. Yet it continues to try to maintain a presence in Gaza as a resistance group fighting an illegal occupation.”
During a 60-day truce, Hamas is expected to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of half of those who died in captivity. In return, Israel is expected to free hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Of the estimated 50 hostages Hamas still holds, only 20 are believed to be alive, according to Israel's military. The proposal also includes the resumption of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and the start of Hamas-Israel negotiations on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
Hamas wants the US to guarantee that these negotiations will continue until Israel pulls out and ends the hostilities.
The war in Gaza started after a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 56,600 Palestinians in Gaza and reduced most of the coastal strip to rubble.
Humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people there have been worsening because of Israel's restrictions on the entry of food aid and supplies.
