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The Palestinian faction is likely to demand substantial changes to the US administration's Gaza ceasefire proposal but may eventually accept the outline in the coming days as a foundation for renewed talks, according to experts and insiders familiar with the group.

The US President's Time Limit and Plan Details

Trump set a deadline of “a few days” from this week for Hamas to respond to his comprehensive proposal, which aims to end the two-year war in the Gaza Strip and allow an seemingly open-ended global oversight of the devastated region, or confront serious consequences.

Political expert Mkhaimar Abusada remarked that Hamas now faces a choice of “the bad and the worst.” Abusada continued, “Should they refuse Trump's plan, as the US president has made clear, that will not be good and will permit Israel to do whatever it takes to finish this. Hamas will likely say ‘yes, however we require this and that’.”

Hamas's Sticking Points

Hugh Lovatt commented that it would be very difficult for Hamas to accept the conditions unconditionally. “This is reasonable. The text is vague. Yet anything other than full and unconditional approval will be used against Hamas by Israeli authorities, the US government, and possibly the Europeans,” he explained.

Israel's prime minister has accepted the US proposal, which incorporated many of Israel's principal demands and was formulated without input from Hamas.

The Israeli leader, who is wanted for alleged international law violations by the international criminal court related to the military campaign in the territory, has declared that the country would “finish the job” if Hamas refused the plan or delayed its execution. Earlier this year, Israel ended a two-month ceasefire, declining to proceed with a planned next stage that might have definitively ended the conflict.

Internal Divisions and External Influence

Hamas leaders are split between Turkey, Qatar, and the Gaza Strip, which complicates discussions on the group's response. Turkish officials and Qatari authorities are putting pressure on Hamas to make concessions.

One sticking point is the proposal's demand that Hamas disarm, a source familiar with the organization said. The handover of all weapons would be very difficult for the militants to agree to, particularly without any political process or substantial progress toward a Palestinian state.

“There exist different trends within the organization. The membership in Doha are often more practical, particularly compared to the military leadership in the Strip. There is an obvious need to have the support of the military wing, and the ordinary members,” the analyst said.

War Context and Civilian Toll

Hostilities were sparked by the Hamas raid into Israeli territory that resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people, primarily non-combatants. Approximately two hundred fifty were taken hostage, of whom forty-eight are still in Gaza, though fewer than half are surviving.

More than sixty-six thousand individuals, largely civilians, have been killed by the Israeli military campaign in the region, large parts of the territory left in rubble, and most of the 2.3 million residents forced from their homes many times.

Trump's Plan Details

Trump's proposal will require the militants to free all captives within 72 hours of a ceasefire coming into effect, the gradual withdrawal of IDF troops to a buffer zone along the edge, and a surge of humanitarian aid. It also requires Israel to free over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, many serving life sentences, which Hamas could frame as a major achievement.

An additional concern for Hamas is the vague assurance of Israeli withdrawals, though the clear statement that there will be no annexation or occupation of Gaza by Israeli forces was viewed positively by one source familiar with the group.

The Group's Present Situation and Strength

Experts say that internal disagreements within Hamas are frequently overstated.

“It is unlikely there is a real split among the Gaza leadership, the West Bank, and the outside leadership. They all agree on opposing the weapons surrender because the military resistance is a core tenet in their nature and identity,” said an expert on Hamas.

Hamas has suffered very significant losses in the conflict. Thousands of fighters have been eliminated, along with almost all top commanders. A report by ACLED found that at least forty leaders and important figures in Hamas's military wing had been killed by Israeli airstrikes since March. Their deaths have resulted in only a single senior commander from the pre-war command structure still in command, ACLED reported.

However Hamas continues guerrilla operations and upholds fragments of administration in the absence of any replacement. Humanitarian officials in Gaza reported that the group still had a strong presence in the urban center, the “refugee areas” in the south, and the coastal zone of a coastal region.

Hamas, which was established in the late 1980s, has recruited many of fresh recruits who, though untrained and poorly equipped, can cause harm on IDF troops.

Milshtein noted that, as per military sources, ninety percent of Hamas commanders had been killed, 97% of its rockets destroyed or launched, but only 40% of the faction's extensive tunnel network had been eliminated. “Hamas have adapted to the current situation. They remain operational in zones where the IDF has stated the group is eliminated, but it is impossible to completely destroy them. They have transformed and they persist,” he concluded.

Within Hamas Resistance to the Proposal

Some inside the group are determined to rejecting the Trump plan outright.

“There is a faction from the armed branch, especially the newer members, which aims to continue the struggle,” the analyst explained. “Their view is that Israel is struggling strategically: the call-up of reservists is a significant strain, elections are scheduled within a year or so, there is growing global and local criticism … So, for them, it’s simply a matter of who will endure longer.”