Hayya, said in a pre-recorded speech on Thursday the group had not rejected the latest U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Israel but demanded changes that would secure the end of the war in the enclave.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy expressed optimism this week about brokering an agreement to halt the Israel-Hamas war and return more of the hostages captured in the attack that ignited it.

A representative of a left-wing faction fighting alongside the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza has told Newsweek his group is open to a temporary ceasefire in their war with Israel and called for greater efforts to establish a unity government among different Palestinian parties.

Israel says it has recovered the bodies of two hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.

Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai were killed on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli officials said. Hamas was holding their bodies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the bodies of the husband and wife were recovered in a special operation from Khan Younis area in the Gaza Strip. Following the recovery of two bodies, 56 hostages are still held by Hamas,