CAIRO, November 8. /TASS/. The release of 12 hostages is being offered for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, Al Mayadeen television reported, citing a source close to Hamas.

The report said half of the people, who have been offered to be freed if Israel suspends military operations, are US nationals.

Egypt’s Al-Qahira Al-Ikhbariya television earlier reported that Egypt was close to reaching an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for the exchange of prisoners and detainees. According to the channel's sources, Cairo is conducting intensive communication to achieve a temporary ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave for humanitarian purposes.

Axios reported on November 7 that US President Joe Biden proposed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suspend fighting in the Gaza Strip for three days in order to free some of the hostages held by Hamas. A high-ranking Israeli official told the US newspaper Politico that Israel is ready to declare a pause in hostilities if Hamas releases a significant number of hostages.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on November 6 that there was no specific agreements on the subject of a ceasefire.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.