Hamas released a video today showing two hostages alive as it studied Israel’s latest proposal for a cease-fire, in an apparent bid to increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off a major offensive that would deepen the war in Gaza.

The Palestinian militant group’s military wing posted a video showing American Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 64, and Israeli Omri Miran, 47.

Israel’s offer of a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages is in response to the group’s position delivered to mediators on April 13, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya said in a statement. The group will submit a response once it’s finished studying it, he said, offering no specific timeline.

Earlier this week, the U.S. and 17 other nations pressed Hamas to release all hostages, including their own citizens being held in Gaza, in a bid to revive talks that have stalled in recent weeks, and to unlock more humanitarian aid for the coastal enclave. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and others.

Netanyahu has faced increasing calls to reach a truce with Hamas amid international concerns about his plans for an attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where a million refugees are sheltering.

Israel has long signaled an intention to launch a ground operation in Rafah to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas. Israeli military officials estimate 5,000 to 8,000 Hamas fighters are holed up there, along with some of its leaders, representing the last line of its defense.

Protests inside Israel over the fate of the hostages are also escalating, especially since Hamas released a recent video of a 23-year-old U.S.-Israeli citizen whose mother has been the most prominent campaigner for efforts to secure the detainees’ release.

That’s spurred calls for Netanyahu to step down, with many accusing the long-time prime minister of prolonging the war to hang onto office despite his failure in preventing Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Thousands gathered in central Tel Aviv late today including relatives of Gaza detainees demanding a hostage deal and early elections. “Netanyahu is blinded by power — he has to go,” one demonstrator, Evyatar Gol, told Bloomberg News.

Former prime minister and opposition leader Yair Lapid joined the rally. “Netanyahu you have a majority among the people of Israel for a deal,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel told a high-level Egyptian delegation which visited Friday that it’s made significant concessions and that the latest offer represents a “last-minute opportunity” for an agreement before it enters Rafah, Channel 12 reported, citing a senior Israeli official who wasn’t identified.

President Joe Biden vowed today he will “not rest” until every hostage is freed.

“They have my word. Their families have my word,” he wrote on X, where he posted a photograph of his meeting with 4-year-old freed American Israeli captive Abigail Idan earlier this week. Idan, whose parents were killed in the Hamas assault, was freed in November during a hostage swap.

The U.S. has been seeking a temporary cease-fire in Gaza that would see Hamas free female, wounded, elderly and sick hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a surge of humanitarian aid. In subsequent phases, the remaining captives — including the bodies of those who’ve died — could be released under a process that U.S. officials say should eventually end the fighting.

Ongoing talks between Israel and Hamas have been mediated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

Netanyahu heads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history and his hard-line allies have condemned the renewed efforts to strike a deal with Hamas. One of them, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, warned against what he described as a “dangerous Israeli capitulation” in a post on X.

Saudi Arabia plans to host high-level talks on Monday to discuss Gaza’s future. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to attend and then visit Israel a day later.

Al-Hayya told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Hamas would lay down its arms if a Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. He insisted it wouldn’t back down from its demands for an end to the war in Gaza and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, which Israel has refused.

Israel’s offer doesn’t give a clear answer to Hamas’ demands for a troop pull-out and comprehensive cease-fire, an unidentified senior Hamas official told the Al Mayadeen TV channel. Unless it makes major changes to the proposal, the prospects aren’t high that it can lead to an agreement, the official added.

Israel has been waging a devastating offensive in Gaza since Hamas fighters swarmed across the border almost seven months ago, killing about 1,200 people. The group abducted another 250, of whom more than 130 remain inside Gaza, some of them dead.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have died, according to Hamas-run health authorities, which don’t distinguish between military and civilian casualties.

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Galit Altstein and Shamim Adam of Bloomberg News contributed to this report. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.