CAIRO, November 9. /TASS/. Talks on a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza are still ongoing, Taher al-Nunu, spokesman for Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, said.

"Talks continue; no agreement has been reached yet," he said in a statement posted on Hamas’ Telegram channel.

Al-Nunu stressed that if an agreement was reached, "a clear announcement will be made to our people."

The White House said earlier that Israel would implement four-hour humanitarian pauses in several areas of Gaza every day starting on November 9.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported, citing sources, that Hamas was discussing the possibility of releasing up to 15 hostages in exchange for a three-day humanitarian ceasefire, which would be enough time to figure out a way to get humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from Gaza. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria, and launched a ground offensive against Hamas’ strongholds in Gaza. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.