"Hamas has received the official response of the Zionist occupation to our position, which was delivered to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13," the deputy head of the group's political wing in Gaza said. "The movement will study this proposal and will present its response once its study is complete," Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement. Hamas said on April 13 that it had submitted a response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on a proposal for a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, insisting on a permanent ceasefire. Without explicitly rejecting the truce proposal, Hamas reiterated demands for "a permanent ceasefire", the withdrawal of the Israeli army "from the entire Gaza Strip", the return of displaced persons to their homes and "intensifying the entry of humanitarian aid". Israel has balked at a permanent ceasefire, insisting instead on a several-week lull in fighting to allow it to carry out a long-threatened ground operation in Rafah, and has rejected a military withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas's counterproposal, the details of which were not disclosed, came a day after an Egyptian delegation arrived in Israel to try to revive truce talks for Gaza, which have been linked to the release of prisoners. Meetings between the Egyptian delegation and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv made "noticeable progress" towards a truce, security sources told the EFE news agency and Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News television. The sources said that Israel was willing to halt military operations in Gaza for about six weeks and allow displaced people to return to the north of the territory, while giving preliminary approval for a prisoner swap for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Hamas is holding 133 Israelis captive since an attack in Israel on October 7 that triggered the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, and about half are believed to be dead. Read Also: Seven countries notify Guterres that they want to contribute to support for Haiti (Portuguese version)