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US President Trump has delivered a time limit to Hamas, demanding them to approve a proposed ceasefire agreement for Gaza or confront severe repercussions.

In a message on his social media channel on the end of the week, the President declared that an agreement must be achieved by 18:00 Washington time (22:00 GMT) on Sunday.

The suggested agreement involves an immediate halt to hostilities and the freeing within a short period of 20 surviving Israel captives captured by the group—plus the bodies of individuals believed to be dead—in exchange for hundreds of arrested Palestinians.

Arab and Turkish intermediaries are reported to be pressing Hamas for a positive answer to the plan, but a senior group figure has stated that the armed group is likely to reject it.

"If this FINAL settlement is not reached, severe retaliation, like nobody has ever witnessed, will erupt against Hamas. WE WILL ENSURE STABILITY IN THE REGION NO MATTER WHAT," Trump posted in the social media post.

Negotiators have made contact with the leader of Hamas's armed faction in Gaza, who has signaled that he disagrees to the latest US halt plan, based on reports.

There is belief that certain members of Hamas's leadership in Qatar are willing to agreeing to the agreement with changes—but have found their influence restricted as they are without authority over the detainees kept by the organization.

A further hurdle for some in the group is that the agreement demands them to hand over all the hostages over the initial three-day period of the truce—giving away their only negotiating tool.

It is estimated to be forty-eight detainees still being detained in the Gazan territory by the armed group, only twenty of whom are estimated to be alive.

Israel's defense forces began a offensive in the Gaza Strip in reaction to the Hamas-initiated attack on southern Israel on a previous date, in which about 1,200 civilians were slain and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least sixty-six thousand two hundred eighty-eight residents have been lost their lives in Israel's strikes in the territory since then, according to the region's Hamas-run medical office.