International mediators made a new bid Thursday to push Israel and Hamas toward a ceasefire in their war that the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said has now killed more than 40,000 people.
Talks opened in Qatar’s capital amid a wider international diplomatic bid to ease tensions that have spiked since the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
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An Israeli delegation attended the Doha talks, which also involved US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that “today is a promising start” but acknowledged: “There remains a lot of work to do.”
The Palestinian group has demanded the implementation of a ceasefire plan and prisoner-hostage swap as laid out on May 31 by US President Joe Biden.
A ceasefire deal must lead to the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated territory, Hamas official Hossam Badran said in a statement released after the first day of talks.
“Any agreement must achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, a complete (Israeli) withdrawal from Gaza, (and) the return of the displaced,” Badran said.
Hamdan told AFP that “so far there’s nothing new” from Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces must keep control of Gaza’s frontier with Egypt to thwart arms movements into the territory.
Since the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel set off the war, there has been one week-long truce in November, when 105 hostages seized in the attack were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
