CAIRO - Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Reuters on Tuesday that the group intends for the release of the largest number possible of Palestinians who are being held in Israeli prisons.

Hamad's comments come after Hamas earlier announced that they had delivered their response to a framework agreement devised by Egypt and Qatar that aims to bring a complete ceasefire to Gaza.

"Netanyahu is trying to make everyone believe that he has or will achieve victory to preserve his coalition government," Hamad told Reuters, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that it took Hamas some time to issue a response because "many of (the agreement's) issues were unclear and ambiguous." REUTERS