The United States announces a “promising start” Ceasefire talks On Thursday, amid growing pressure in Gaza to stop the conflict, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, talks began in Doha, Qatar, attended by CIA Director William Burns, aimed at ending the war that has devastated Gaza, displaced its population, and created a severe humanitarian crisis.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “today is a promising start,” but added that “there is still a lot of work to be done.” Kirby confirmed that talks are expected to continue on Friday.
Hamas The official, Osama Hamdan, said the group did not take part in Thursday’s talks but was ready to join if indirect negotiations produced new commitments. IsraelHamdan stressed that Hamas demands the implementation of the ceasefire plan proposed by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
“If the mediators manage to agree to an end to the (Israeli) occupation, we will do so, but there is nothing new so far,” Hamdan told AFP, adding that Hamas would not engage in lengthy talks that would “give Netanyahu more time to kill Palestinians.”
The only ceasefire so far occurred in November, when Gaza militants released 105 hostages captured during an October 7 Israeli attack in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Diplomacy Gaza’s health ministry said Number of deaths The death toll has surpassed 40,000, which UN chief Antonio Guterres has described as “yet another reason” for a ceasefire.
“Given the worrying number of people who remain unaccounted for, trapped under rubble or dead, this number is likely, if anything, lower,” said Guterres’ spokesman Farhan Haq. “This is one more reason why we need a ceasefire now, as well as the release of all hostages and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty figures include 40 deaths in the past 24 hours. The Israeli military has reported killing “more than 17,000” Palestinian militants since the start of the war.
British foreign minister David Lammy and his French counterpart Stephane Sezourne are due to discuss ceasefire talks with Israel’s top diplomat Israel Katz on Friday. During a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, US envoy Amos Hochstein said an agreement in Gaza could enable a diplomatic solution in Lebanon and avert a wider conflict.
“We have to take advantage of this opportunity for diplomatic action and a diplomatic solution. That time has come now,” Hochstein said.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the current war, has resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, most of them civilians, according to an Israeli official tally seen by AFP. The militants also captured 251 people, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 who the military says are dead.
Mediation efforts have repeatedly stalled since a week-long ceasefire was reached in November. Some Hamas officials, analysts and critics in Israel have suggested Netanyahu is prolonging the war for political reasons.
Israeli media recently quoted Defense Minister Yoav Galant as telling a parliamentary committee privately that Hostage release The deal is “stalled … partly because of Israel.” Netanyahu’s office responded by accusing Galant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative”, adding that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is “the only obstacle to the hostage deal.”
The renewed efforts for talks come after Sinwar’s predecessor, Hamas political leader and ceasefire negotiator Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated during a visit to Tehran on July 31. The incident has raised fears of a wider conflict, as Iran and its regional allies blamed Israel and vowed retaliation, though Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Western leaders have urged Tehran to refrain from retaliating against Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, which came hours after a Hezbollah military commander was killed in an Israeli attack in Beirut.
The conflict has involved Iran-allied groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. More than 370 Hezbollah members have been killed in ten months of almost daily cross-border firefights with Israeli forces, more than the group lost in its 2006 war with Israel. On the Israeli side, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, including in the Golan Heights, according to military figures.
In Gaza, where there has been massive destruction of housing and infrastructure, relatively few casualties were reported on Thursday. The deadliest incident was linked to air strikes that killed five people in Gaza City. The Israeli military said troops killed about 20 militants in Rafah in southern Gaza.
Several dead and injured, including blood-soaked children, were brought to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis following the Israeli attack on Wednesday.
“I was not a supporter of Hamas, but now I support them and want to fight them,” one mourner cried.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “today is a promising start,” but added that “there is still a lot of work to be done.” Kirby confirmed that talks are expected to continue on Friday.
Hamas The official, Osama Hamdan, said the group did not take part in Thursday’s talks but was ready to join if indirect negotiations produced new commitments. IsraelHamdan stressed that Hamas demands the implementation of the ceasefire plan proposed by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
“If the mediators manage to agree to an end to the (Israeli) occupation, we will do so, but there is nothing new so far,” Hamdan told AFP, adding that Hamas would not engage in lengthy talks that would “give Netanyahu more time to kill Palestinians.”
The only ceasefire so far occurred in November, when Gaza militants released 105 hostages captured during an October 7 Israeli attack in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Diplomacy Gaza’s health ministry said Number of deaths The death toll has surpassed 40,000, which UN chief Antonio Guterres has described as “yet another reason” for a ceasefire.
“Given the worrying number of people who remain unaccounted for, trapped under rubble or dead, this number is likely, if anything, lower,” said Guterres’ spokesman Farhan Haq. “This is one more reason why we need a ceasefire now, as well as the release of all hostages and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty figures include 40 deaths in the past 24 hours. The Israeli military has reported killing “more than 17,000” Palestinian militants since the start of the war.
British foreign minister David Lammy and his French counterpart Stephane Sezourne are due to discuss ceasefire talks with Israel’s top diplomat Israel Katz on Friday. During a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, US envoy Amos Hochstein said an agreement in Gaza could enable a diplomatic solution in Lebanon and avert a wider conflict.
“We have to take advantage of this opportunity for diplomatic action and a diplomatic solution. That time has come now,” Hochstein said.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the current war, has resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, most of them civilians, according to an Israeli official tally seen by AFP. The militants also captured 251 people, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 who the military says are dead.
Mediation efforts have repeatedly stalled since a week-long ceasefire was reached in November. Some Hamas officials, analysts and critics in Israel have suggested Netanyahu is prolonging the war for political reasons.
Israeli media recently quoted Defense Minister Yoav Galant as telling a parliamentary committee privately that Hostage release The deal is “stalled … partly because of Israel.” Netanyahu’s office responded by accusing Galant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative”, adding that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is “the only obstacle to the hostage deal.”
The renewed efforts for talks come after Sinwar’s predecessor, Hamas political leader and ceasefire negotiator Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated during a visit to Tehran on July 31. The incident has raised fears of a wider conflict, as Iran and its regional allies blamed Israel and vowed retaliation, though Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Western leaders have urged Tehran to refrain from retaliating against Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, which came hours after a Hezbollah military commander was killed in an Israeli attack in Beirut.
The conflict has involved Iran-allied groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. More than 370 Hezbollah members have been killed in ten months of almost daily cross-border firefights with Israeli forces, more than the group lost in its 2006 war with Israel. On the Israeli side, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, including in the Golan Heights, according to military figures.
In Gaza, where there has been massive destruction of housing and infrastructure, relatively few casualties were reported on Thursday. The deadliest incident was linked to air strikes that killed five people in Gaza City. The Israeli military said troops killed about 20 militants in Rafah in southern Gaza.
Several dead and injured, including blood-soaked children, were brought to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis following the Israeli attack on Wednesday.
“I was not a supporter of Hamas, but now I support them and want to fight them,” one mourner cried.
