CAIRO (Reuters) -- A Hamas official said on Tuesday that Egyptian efforts to broker a truce with Israel had been held up because the Israeli government had yet to respond to proposals, indicating there would be no ceasefire until Wednesday at the earliest.

"The Israeli side has not responded yet, so we will not hold a (news) conference this evening and must wait until tomorrow," Ezzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas leader, told Reuters. "The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond," he added in a short telephone interview.

An Egyptian official had earlier said Cairo was hopeful of an agreement on Tuesday, following a statement by Ayman Taha, another Hamas official, that a ceasefire had been reached and would go into effect within hours.