Hamas says it is ready to start Gaza ceasefire talks 'immediately'
"The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place" the terms of a draft truce proposal received from Egyptian and Qatari mediators, the militant group said in a statement.
Hamas earlier said that it was holding discussions with leaders of other Palestinian factions on the issue.
It was not clear if Hamas's statement meant it had accepted the proposal from US President Donald Trump for a 60-day ceasefire. Hamas has been seeking guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war, now nearly 21 months old.
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 health ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is run by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government, and its numbers are widely cited by the UN and international organisations.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
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