The White House says a new round of talks aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war has resumed in Doha and is expected to run into Friday. The talks will also focus on securing the release of scores of hostages, with a potential deal seen as the best hope of heading off an even larger regional conflict.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt were to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month-old war surpassed 40,000. A Palestinian official said Hamas would not take part in Thursday’s talks but that its senior officials, who reside in Qatar, were ready to discuss any proposals from the mediators, as they have in past rounds.
A cease-fire in Gaza would likely calm tensions across the region and may persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to refrain from retaliatory strikes on Israel after the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Iran’s capital.
The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Here’s the latest:
WASHINGTON — Though Hamas is not directly participating in cease-fire talks, representatives from Qatar and Egypt are engaged on their behalf, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
“There are representatives on the ground there from Israel, from the United States, from Qatar and Egypt. And Qatar and Egypt as part of that process are mediating with Hamas,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a briefing with reporters.
He said much of the talks will focus on the details of implementing a peace plan proposed by President Joe Biden in May.
“It is our view and it continues to be the case that the broader framework of what the president laid out at the end of May has generally been accepted. But of course this is a negotiation with two parties and this is a process,” Patel said. “I don’t anticipate that coming out of the talks that there will be a deal today,.”
“We expect this process to continue,” he added.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister will meet with his counterparts from the United Kingdom and France this week to discuss preventing regional escalation, said the ministry on Thursday.
Israel Katz will meet with the ministers on Friday during their quick visit to the country, where the three are expected to discuss a deal to release the hostages among other issues.
The visit comes as the United States, Qatar and Egypt is meeting with an Israeli delegation in Qatar for a new round of talks aimed at halting the 10-month long war and as regional tensions rise. Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are vowing to retaliate for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Tehran.
A cease-fire in Gaza would likely calm those tensions.
During Friday’s meeting, Katz is also expected to discuss the need to promote severe economic sanctions against Iran regarding for its nuclear program, said the ministry.
JERUSALEM — Israeli firefighters Thursday were battling back blazes ignited by rockets from Lebanon, fire officials said.
Five trucks of firefighters spent the afternoon putting out a fire in the Upper Galilee, near Kibbutz Shamir, Israeli fire spokesperson Isaac Ben-David told media.
The Lebanese Hezbollah militant group Thursday said it fired salvos of Katyusha rockets targeting Shamir for the first time. The group said the attack was in retaliation to an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, an area that has largely been a safe area since the conflict started, and wounded several civilians.
Israel’s military said five rockets from Lebanon fell in open areas near Shamir and reported no injuries. 20 more rockets were fired into Israel soon after, it said.
Hezbollah announced three other attacks on Israeli military positions near the tense border with Lebanon, including an attack using exploding drones.
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