Hamas agreeing to free the remaining captives, albeit subject to negotiations and certain conditions being fulfilled, will give real hope to the family members in the Israeli state who have been eagerly waiting for this type of news for a very long time
In its statement responding to the US ceasefire initiative, the group expressed willingness to "free all Israel's detainees, both alive and deceased, according to the swap formula contained in President Donald Trump's plan, provided the field conditions for the swap are satisfied"
That formula, outlined by President Trump at the US capital in recent days, envisions an immediate cessation to the hostilities and the release within three days of all surviving Israeli captives detained by Hamas – as well as the bodies of hostages believed to be no longer alive – in return for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinian people
There are believed to be 48 hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory by the militant faction, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive
The endorsement by Hamas of an additional key part of the US ceasefire proposal, the idea of handing over the governance of the Gaza Strip to local technocrats, is also clearly noteworthy
But there are plenty of additional aspects of the lengthy, 20-point plan that are glaring by their omission
The most prominent of those is the stipulation that the organization surrender its weapons
"This is a major day", the President says of the group's reply to peace deal
The Israel's leadership will now be poring over the language of the announcement to determine the true intent
It will need to determine whether it views this as a sincere good faith acceptance of several of the key provisions of the deal, or simply an attempt to buy time and resume protracted negotiations
Given that it was issued just a short time after the US leader delivered his final ultimatum for Hamas to comply by the weekend deadline or confront "all hell", several members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government are expected to be highly doubtful
That is especially true now the US president has called on the Israeli state to immediately stop the bombing of Gaza
"In light of the Communication just issued by the organization, I am convinced they are ready for a enduring PEACE", Trump said soon after the group's statement was released
"The Israeli government must immediately stop the military strikes of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and swiftly", he said. "Right now, it's far too risky to do that"
The Israeli officials will be displeased by the last paragraph of his announcement suggesting that the faction would keep a role in talks over the long term future of Gaza
The group's response is important, undoubtedly. In a recorded address released later on Friday, Trump said it was a "major step" and expressed gratitude to a number of countries which he claimed had helped him develop the proposal together
But there is still a substantial amount of detail to be resolved before a truce in the region becomes anything like a certainty. And the president appeared to acknowledge this was far from a done deal
"We'll see how it everything turns out", he said. "We have to finalize the definitive terms down and firmly established"
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