Doha (AFP)
Gaza ceasefire talks resumed in Doha on Thursday as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the spread of a war that has killed 40,000 Palestinians.
The conflict has devastated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a towering humanitarian crisis.
A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP they had begun in the Qatari capital. They did not disclose whether all parties attended the meeting, which Israel and CIA director William Burns planned to attend.
Ahead of the negotiations, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN the focus would be on implementing details of a proposal that President Joe Biden laid out on May 31.
“That’s when it gets the hardest and the most gritty,” Kirby said, adding “hopefully we’ll make some progress here in the coming hours and days.”
So far, there has been only one, week-long truce in November.
Gaza officials said they would demand the implementation of the plan that Biden said would start with an initial six-week “complete ceasefire”, the release of hostages and a “surge” in humanitarian aid as the warring sides negotiate “a permanent end to hostilities”.
The latest diplomatic push comes as the death toll in the besieged Palestinian territory had surpassed 40,000, which UN human rights chief Volker Turk called a “grim milestone”.
“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,” he added.
The Gaza ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties, said the tally included 40 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
In Beirut on Wednesday, visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein said a deal in Gaza “would also help enable a diplomatic resolution here in Lebanon and that would prevent an outbreak of a wider war”.
He added: “We have to take advantage of this window for diplomatic action and diplomatic solutions. That time is now.”
Mediation efforts have repeatedly stalled since a week-long truce in November.
US news website Axios, citing US officials, said former president Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election, spoke with Netanyahu on Wednesday and discussed the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
The conflict has devastated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a towering humanitarian crisis