CAIRO, October 27. /TASS/. The Palestinian movement Hamas is interested in a ceasefire spanning a few days and demands the release of its supporters from Israeli prisons in exchange for 100 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.

Israel was ready to agree to a ceasefire with the radicals "lasting several hours or possibly days under international control," the source told the agency.

According to the source, Hamas was "interested in establishing a ceasefire [with Israel] and demanded the release of its supporters from prisons in exchange for at least 100 people held hostage by the movement in Gaza."

Meanwhile, The Financial Times reported citing Ali Barakeh, head of the Hamas National Relations Abroad, that Hamas would be ready to release the foreign hostages in exchange for a five-day ceasefire from Israel. However, the newspaper said, Hamas will demand additional conditions to free civilians who hold only Israeli citizenship.

Barakeh told the newspaper that Israeli soldiers are being kept for "a [prisoner] exchange" and would not be released. Barakeh added that Hamas militants initially "planned to take only 10-20 hostages," but "the final figure turned out to be much larger," the newspaper said.

Earlier, Israel announced that it was "expanding the scope" of its ground military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Axios website said recently that Israeli officials claimed that the decision to expand the operation in Gaza was made after the talks on the release of hostages ended in a deadlock.

On October 20, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, announced the release of two US citizens, which had been mediated by Qatar. On October 23, the group released two more female hostages. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has information that Hamas is holding 224 hostages. According to Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov, three Russian citizens are believed to be among the hostages. Hamas officials said earlier that at least 50 hostages had been killed in Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip.