US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that a response was still awaited from Hamas on a Gaza ceasefire proposal, to which he said Israel had reaffirmed its commitment.

“It is a hopeful sign, just as the statement issued after the president (Joe Biden) made his proposal 10 days ago was hopeful,” AFP quotes Blinken as saying.

“But it’s not dispositive. What is dispositive — or at least what so far been dispositive in one way or another — is the word coming from Gaza and from the Hamas leadership in Gaza. And that’s what counts. And that’s what we don’t have.

“We await the answer from Hamas,” he said.

Israel too has yet to formally announce it has accepted the ceasefire proposal, which was revealed by Biden on May 31.