WASHINGTON, October 24. /TASS/. Israel is willing to delay a ground operation in Gaza for a few days to allow talks on releasing a large number of the hostages Hamas is holding there, two Israeli officials have told Axios.

"'Both Israel and the Biden administration want to exhaust every effort to try and get hostages out of Gaza. If Hamas proposes a big package, of course we will be ready to do things in return,' a senior Israeli official said in the context of Israel's promised invasion of Gaza."

Israeli officials say that once their military launches a ground invasion, a deal for hostages will be nearly impossible.

At the same time, Israeli officials stressed that even if a hostage deal were struck, the Israeli military wouldn't drop its plans for a ground assault in Gaza.

Earlier, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing a source, reported that Hamas was considering the release of civilian hostages in exchange for fuel.

In turn, the US media wrote that Washington was putting pressure on Israel, urging it to postpone the start of the ground operation in Gaza and to release the hostages held in the enclave. Also, if the operation could be postponed, the US would like to be better prepared for possible attacks on its forces in the Middle East.