Report: Ceasefire deal may take a week or 2, not days - Israeli official

The prospects of a ceasefire and hostage release deal will take longer than US President Donald Trump indicated, according to a senior Israeli official speaking to Reuters on Thursday.

While Trump has stated his optimistic that a deal will be reached this week, the official said that a "Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas may be possible within a week or two but not in a day's time."

Hamas has demanded US guarantees that Israel will not resume fighting as long as talks continue after the 60-day ceasefire period expires, which the Trump administration reportedly provided to the terror groups satisfaction, through Palestinian-American Trump associate Bishara Bahbah.

Israel, meanwhile, demands Hamas "lay down its arms," the official said, and will only "offer a temporary ceasefire" otherwise before the military will "proceed with military operations."

Regarding the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last month, the official said that intelligence indicated that the enriched uranium was stored in the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. The uranium has not been moved, he said. While the "enriched uranium in Isfahan may still be accessible," he added, "it would be very difficult to remove it."

The US launched an unprecedented attack on those three sites, using B-2 bombers to strike the underground enrichment facility in Fordow with 14 GBU-57 series MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) bunker busters.

This was the first time the weapon was used in combat, with the US developing the bomb specifically to target underground bunkers such as Fordow. The other sites were hit with Tomahawk missiles launched by the US Navy.