Hamas accepts a UN resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian terrorist group said on Tuesday in what America’s top diplomat called “a hopeful sign.”

Conversations on plans for Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends will continue on Tuesday afternoon and in the next couple of days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli leaders. “It’s imperative that we have these plans,” he added.

Blinken met Israeli officials on Tuesday in a push to end the eight-month-old Israeli air and ground war against Hamas in Gaza, a day after President Joe Biden’s proposal for a truce was approved by the UN Security Council.

Ahead of Blinken’s trip, Israel and Hamas both repeated hardline positions that have undermined previous mediation to end the fighting, while Israel has pressed on with its campaign in central and southern Gaza.

On Tuesday, however, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, who is based outside Gaza, said the terrorist group, which rules the Palestinian enclave, accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details. It was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it, he added.

He said Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

“The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Blinken said the Hamas statement was “a hopeful sign” but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership inside Israeli-besieged Gaza. “That’s what counts, and that’s what we don’t have yet.”

The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

Biden’s proposal envisages a ceasefire and release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel in stages, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war.

Israel has said it will agree only to temporary pauses in the war until Hamas is defeated, while Hamas has countered it will not accept a deal that does not guarantee the war will end.

Blinken, speaking to reporters before departing for neighboring Jordan, said his talks were also addressing day-after plans for Gaza, including security, governance, and rebuilding the enclave.

“We’ve been doing that in consultation with many partners throughout the region. Those conversations will continue … it’s imperative that we have these plans,” he said.

In the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinians reacted cautiously to the Security Council vote, fearing it could prove yet another ceasefire initiative that would prove fruitless.

FEARS OF MAJOR ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR

In his visit, his eighth to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October, Blinken also hoped to counter rising violence between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group after both signaled readiness for a major spillover conflict.

On Monday, Blinken had talks in Cairo with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, an important mediator in the Gaza war, in Cairo before proceeding to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Blinken had consultations on Tuesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, centrist ex-military chief Benny Gantz — who quit Israel‘s war cabinet on Sunday over what he said was Netanyahu’s failure to outline a plan for the war’s end — as well as opposition leader Yair Lapid.

The US State Department said Blinken discussed Biden’s truce proposal with Gantz and reiterated that it would advance Israel‘s security interests, bring hostages home, and raise the chances of restoring calm along Israel‘s border with Lebanon.

The US is Israel‘s closest ally and biggest arms supplier, though it has become sharply critical of the high civilian death toll during the Israeli military campaign.

The war raged on in Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces stepped up strikes on its southern city of Rafah a day after four soldiers were killed in an ambush claimed by Hamas.

Israeli Army Radio said the soldiers died in an explosion in a building in Rafah’s Shaboura district. Hamas said it had ambushed troops by detonating explosives planted in the building.

HOPES FOR CEASEFIRE REPEATEDLY DASHED

Biden has repeatedly declared that ceasefires were close over the past several months, but there has been only one, week-long truce, in November, when over 100 hostages were freed in exchange for about 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Israeli forces rescued four hostages held by Hamas in a commando raid into a crowded urban refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday. The Hamas-controlled health ministry claimed that 274 Palestinians were killed during the operation, although experts have questioned the reliability of casualty figures from Gaza. Israel said the casualties from the raid were “less than 100.”

There are over 100 hostages left in the coastal enclave, according to Israeli tallies, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia.

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