'Room to work' with Hamas on truce but talks to take time, US official tells NBC

A US official told NBC News the counter-proposal for a ceasefire presented by Hamas could be worked with and that it was accurate to call it “generally positive”.

The unnamed source, who is a senior administration official, said a deal is unlikely to materialise in the coming days but could happen in "the next couple of weeks". 

''We’ll see what the Israelis have to say. There are still some difficult issues to be worked out but there is some room to work with,” the official said.

One of the main issues is the timeframe of the Israeli military campaign, with Hamas demanding a permanent and comprehensive end to the war and Israel offering only short pauses in fighting. 

Another issue is the number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged with Israeli captives.