A Hamas leader told Newsweek that "we can go to an agreement immediately" if Israel changed its course on negotiations.

Hamas stood by its demand on Tuesday that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be "hell to pay" unless they go free by his Jan.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Iranian proxies invaded Israel, massacring more than 1200 people and taking hundreds of people hostage. In response, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza with the express aim of destroying the U.S.-designated terrorist group. For more than a year, many in the press have been regurgitating Hamas propaganda.

It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” the president-elect warned during a press conference in Mar-a-Lago Tuesday.

Israel says Hamas has not provided any information about the status of those 34 hostages, dampening any notion that the endorsement is a step toward a deal to stop the war.

Hamas has threatened to prosecute US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for his alleged role as “a partner in the war of extermination” in Gaza after the official blamed the terror

US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East said negotiators were on the verge of a deal to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas in its war against Israel.

A renewed push is underway to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month war and return Israeli hostages before Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israel believes a third of the remaining hostages are dead, while a number have been previously freed through negotiated deals. However, Yosef and Hamzah Al Zaydani were believed to still be alive and their bodies’ return could ramp up the pressure on Israel to move ahead on a deal.

Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man’s son.

Israel has significantly weakened Iran and its proxies in the Middle East in the aftermath of Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist attack but several of the conflicts are continuing with no clear end in sight.