WNAM REPORT: Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Doha again on Friday in an effort to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel continued to launch strikes in the Palestinian enclave and Gaza health officials reported that the death toll there had surpassed 40,000 people.
The current round of negotiations opened on Thursday, and the talks are due to resume on Friday, Qatari and U.S. officials said.
A U.S. official briefed on the discussions in Doha, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that Thursday’s talks were “constructive.”
“This is vital work. The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close,” U.S. national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House.
The parties to the talks remain deeply divided and the Egyptian delegation is trying to push them to reach a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible, CMG reported, citing an Egyptian source, who declined to be identified.
Israel, meanwhile, pressed on with its assault on Gaza. Gaza health officials said at least six Palestinians were killed on Thursday night in an Israeli air strike on a house in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued late on Thursday on Telegram, Hamas politburo member Hossam Badran said Israel’s continuing operations were an obstacle to progress on a ceasefire.
He said the talks must move toward implementation of a framework agreement accepted previously and achieve a complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces, return of displaced Palestinians and a hostage exchange deal.
“Hamas looks at the ongoing negotiations in Doha regarding a ceasefire and a hostage exchange from a strategic perspective with the goal of ending the aggression on Gaza,” Badran added.
Hamas officials did not join Thursday’s talks. Mediators planned to consult with Hamas’ Doha-based negotiating team after the meeting, the official told Reuters.
The negotiations, an effort to end bloodshed in Gaza and bring more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages home, were put together as Iran appeared poised to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
With U.S. warships, submarines and warplanes dispatched to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers, the U.S. hopes a ceasefire agreement in Gaza can defuse the risk of a full-out wider regional conflict.
Israel and Hamas have each blamed the other for failure to reach a deal, yet neither side has ruled out an agreement. Gaps include the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza, the sequencing of a hostage release and restrictions on the free movement of civilians from southern to northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the Gaza death toll of more than 40,000 reported by the enclave’s health ministry was a “grim milestone for the world.”
“Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war,” Turk added.
Turk said his office had documented “serious violations” of international humanitarian law by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.
In response to Turk’s statement, Israel’s mission in Geneva accused his office of “once again spreading Hamas’ propaganda, voluntarily refusing to differentiate between terrorists and civilians.”
