Hamas responds to Gaza cease-fire plan seeking some changes. U.S. says it’s ‘evaluating’ the reply

Hamas said Tuesday that it gave mediators its reply to the U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, seeking some "amendments" on the deal. It appeared the reply was short of an outright acceptance that the United States has been pushing for but kept negotiations alive over an elusive halt to the eight-month war.

The foreign ministries of Qatar and Egypt — who have been key mediators alongside the United States — confirmed that they had received Hamas' response and said mediators were studying it.

"We're in receipt of this reply that Hamas delivered to Qatar and to Egypt, and we are evaluating it right now," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said the response included "amendments that confirm the cease-fire, withdrawal, reconstruction and (prisoner) exchange." Taha did not elaborate.

But while supporting the broad outlines of the deal, Hamas officials have expressed wariness over whether Israel would implement its terms, particularly provisions for an eventual permanent end to fighting and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in return for the release of all hostages held by the militants.

Even as the U.S. has said Israel accepted the proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given conflicting signals, saying Israel will not stop until its its goal of destroying Hamas is achieved.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in the region this week trying to push through the deal — his eighth visit since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel ignited Israel's campaign in Gaza. On Tuesday, he continued pressure on Hamas to accept the proposal, saying that the U.N. Security Council's vote in its favor made it "as clear as it possibly