As the world awaits Hamas's response to Donald Trump's 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, the families of Israeli hostages and Palestinians on the ground in the devastated strip are hopeful an end to the two-year-long war could be looming.
Hamas is considering the proposal, with the group insisting it had not been given advance details of the document prior to the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands on it and heralding it a breakthrough.
Mr Trump said he would give Hamas "three or four days" to respond.
"All of the Arab countries are signed up, the Muslim countries are all signed up, Israel is all signed up, we're just waiting for Hamas," he told reporters at the White House.
"Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end.
"It's pretty simple."
American network CBS reported on Tuesday that Hamas was leaning towards accepting the proposal, and would present its response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on Wednesday.
The war in Gaza, a week out from its grim second anniversary, has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians and left much of the territory in ruins.
"God willing, Hamas will agree, and we will go back unharmed to our homes in Gaza City," Eid Rai, 63, one of the hundreds of thousands who have fled Gaza City in recent weeks, told the ABC.
"We want a full ceasefire, our children have been dying just next to us.
"If Hamas does not agree, where shall we go to?"
'They don't have water, they don't have food'
Hamas's deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the relentless bombardment of Gaza, killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 250 taken hostage.
Among them were brothers David and Ariel Cunio, who remain in captivity.
"We live in a horror movie," their mother, Silvia Cunio, told the ABC.
"We know they are alive, but it is difficult to imagine how they live.
"They don't have water, they don't have food, and they don't have any sunshine."
The Trump proposal details that all of the remaining 48 Israeli hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, would be released within the first 72 hours of any deal.
Hamas has repeatedly demanded a phased release of captives, fearing Israel could go back on its word the moment all of its hostages were back on home soil.
The Cunio brothers, dual Israeli Argentinian citizens, were at the family home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, close to the Gaza border, when it was attacked by Hamas.
They were taken hostage along with David's wife, Sharon, and their twin daughters Yuli and Emma. Ariel's girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud, was also taken by Hamas militants.
Sharon and the children, aged just three at the time, were freed after 52 days.
"They dream about it and scream, and they ask for their father [David] to come home, and also their uncle [Ariel]," Silvia said.
Arbel was released in late January 2024, during a chaotic hostage handover ceremony in Khan Younis.
'We want them all back home now'
The ABC's cameras were on the ground as crowds of onlookers surged towards the Israeli captives being escorted to waiting International Red Cross officials, before their journey home.
"My feelings were all mixed, all mixed — a great happiness that Arbel was released alive and healthy, but on the other hand, my sons remained there," Silvia said.
"I did not imagine the things that she went through.
"It was very difficult, also the bombing that she heard, that endangers their lives, the proximity of the soldiers, and unfortunately, they put a gun to her head, it was a life and death situation."
She feared the ongoing military offensive in Gaza City, seeking to take control and occupy the area, endangered the lives of her sons.
"On the ground, they are going in, bombing, soldiers are being killed unfortunately, and I don't want more blood to be shed — not of the soldiers and not of the kidnapped," she said.
"We want them all back home now.
"Every day I am dreaming about that moment, that I am running towards them, and that they hug me, and say to me, 'we are here, Mamita.'"
Fears for emboldened Israel if Hamas rejects plan
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee Gaza City in recent weeks, as the IDF's operation intensified.
Many have moved south to areas around Deir Al Balah, where tent communities have grown at a significant scale.
Many of the displaced Palestinians the ABC spoke to said Hamas needed to back the deal.
"Hamas must accept, it has to agree to this deal because we don't want humiliation after this, we don't want to be exhausted, we don't want indignity, we don't want all the things that world already knows about," Ali Saadi, 50, originally from Jabalia in northern Gaza, said.
"Hamas, for me, is like any organisation — it represents itself, and does not represent the Palestinian people."
Some feared Israel would be emboldened if Hamas rejected the deal.
"There should be acceptance of the ceasefire and the Trump plan, just in order to save Palestinian life, the blood of our sons, the blood of our people, and to save what is left of the city of Gaza, its buildings and residential houses," Mattar Zad said.
"If this plan is rejected, if this new American proposal is rejected, maybe the Israeli occupation will continue with its military operation and demolish all of the Gaza Strip, not only Gaza City."
As Hamas continued to consider the proposal, mediators Qatar announced Türkiye was weighing joining the negotiations.
"The [Hamas] negotiating delegation promised to study it responsibly, which is what is happening now," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in a press conference in Doha.
"Even today, there will be another meeting with the Turkish side, also with the negotiating delegation, with the aim of consulting on this plan and to push towards, as we said, an end to this war through this plan."
One source close to Hamas told news agency Reuters that the deal was skewed in favour of Israel.
The particular concerns related to the timeline for the release of hostages, and the phased but not total withdrawal of Israeli troops from the strip — issues that have been red lines in negotiations before.
