US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the US was working on a post-war plan for Gaza, as Hamas said urged the diplomat to encourage Israel to accept a deal.
Consulting with key mediator Qatar on the Hamas response to the plan outlined by US President Joe Biden, Blinken said the Palestinian group could have given a "clear and simple yes" but voiced guarded hope for moving forward.
In a statement late on Wednesday, Hamas urged Blinken to press Israel into a deal, saying it had always responded "positively" towards the ceasefire proposals while Israel had not done the same.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said about 160 rockets were launched from Lebanon into northern Israel on Wednesday, after an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon the previous day.
Hezbollah identified the commander as Taleb Sami Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb and born in 1969.
A Lebanese military source said the commander was "the most important in Hezbollah to be killed up to now since the start of the war".
Gaza's population faces mounting humanitarian collapse with aid supplies still disrupted leaving residents struggling to find food and sufficient medicines. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that some 8,000 children under the age of five have been treated for malnutrition.