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The Palestinian faction consenting to free the outstanding hostages, although dependent on negotiations and certain terms being met, provides genuine optimism to the family members in Israel who have been eagerly waiting for this kind of news for a very long time

In its statement responding to the US ceasefire initiative, the organization agreed to "free all Israel's prisoners, both living and dead, in line with the swap arrangement contained in the US President's plan, provided the field circumstances for the exchange are satisfied"

That framework, detailed by President Trump at the White House earlier this week, proposes an immediate cessation to the fighting and the release within 72 hours of all living Israeli hostages detained by Hamas – as well as the bodies of hostages thought to be dead – in return for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinian people

There are estimated to be 48 captives still being held in the Gaza Strip by the armed group, only 20 of whom are thought to be surviving

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The acceptance by Hamas of another essential element of the American ceasefire proposal, the idea of transferring the administration of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats, is also clearly noteworthy

But there are plenty of other aspects of the lengthy, 20-point proposal that are glaring by their omission

The most prominent of those is the stipulation that Hamas lay down its weapons

"This is a major development", the President says of Hamas reply to peace deal

The Israeli government will now be scrutinizing the wording of the statement to glean the underlying meaning

It will need to decide whether it sees this as a sincere trustworthy approval of some of the central provisions of the agreement, or simply an attempt to buy time and reopen long drawn out negotiations

Considering that it came just a few hours after the US leader delivered his final demand for the faction to agree by the weekend deadline or confront "all hell", several members of the Israeli premier's government are expected to be deeply doubtful

That is especially true now the American leader has called on Israel to without delay stop the bombing of the territory

"In light of the Communication just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a enduring CEASEFIRE", President Trump stated soon after the Hamas message was released

"Israel must immediately cease the military strikes of the region, so that we can secure the Captives out without harm and quickly", he said. "Right now, it's extremely risky to do that"

The Israeli officials will be displeased by the final section of his statement suggesting that Hamas would retain a role in talks over the future governance of Gaza

The Hamas response is important, no doubt. In a recorded address broadcast on Friday evening, Trump declared it was a "major step" and expressed gratitude to a series of countries which he claimed had helped him develop the proposal together

But there is nonetheless a substantial amount of specifics to be worked through before a truce in the area becomes remotely close to a certainty. And the president seemed to acknowledge this was not a done deal

"We'll see how it all turns out", he said. "It is necessary to get the definitive terms in place and firmly established"