A Hamas official on Friday said the group accepted parts of U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the war in Gaza but it would refuse foreign administration of the Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”

Trump on Friday ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all the remaining hostages taken in the October 7, 2023, attack.

Hamas said in aa statement it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians.

Senior Hamas officials suggested there were still major disagreements that required further negotiations.

In an interview with Al Araby TV based in Qatar, Hamas official Osama Hamdan praised President Trump’s effort to release the prisoners saying, “we are ready to enter into direct negotiations to implement the exchange process and prepare the field conditions for this.”

However, Hamadan said Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”

There was no immediate response from Israel, which is largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath, and Hamas' response fell short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demands that the group surrender and disarm.

Israel had earlier accepted Trump's plan in its entirety.

Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE."

“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out," he wrote on social media.

Hamas said aspects of the proposal touching on the future of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rights should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous Palestinian stance” reached with other factions and based on international law.

The statement also made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in Trump’s proposal.

Key mediators Egypt and Qatar welcomed the latest developments, and Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, said they would “continue discussions on the plan.”