Gaza ceasefire talks continuing in Qatar

Negotiations on a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza are continuing in Qatar, a US official said on Tuesday, after an earlier round of talks wrapped up in Cairo amid growing regional tensions.

US President Joe Biden's Middle East point man Brett McGurk is in Doha for the talks aimed at halting the 10-month conflict between Israel and Hamas, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to negotiate an agreement in which the remaining hostages would be freed in exchange for a lasting cease-fire. Those talks are ongoing, but there has been no sign of any breakthrough.

Meanwhile, President Biden’s top Middle East adviser on Tuesday held talks in Doha with senior Qatari leaders on the ongoing efforts to complete a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, according to a US official.

A man holds the body of a Palestinian girl killed in an Israeli strike in Jabalia refugee camp. Reuters

White House senior adviser Brett McGurk’s meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani comes after the prime minister traveled to Tehran to speak with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who don't say how many of them were fighters. The offensive has displaced 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.

Hamas is still holding around 110 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a cease-fire last November.

The talks also come as ongoing cease-fire talks to pause the war between Israel and Hamas are set to shift to Doha after several days of intense negotiations in Cairo.

The official, who was not authorised to discuss the sensitive talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that McGurk met with the Qatari officials and discussed the negotiations and the prime minister's recent meeting with Iran's president.

Palestinians evacuate patients from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip.  AFP

Tensions have been escalating between Israel and Iran, and with groups — Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis — that are backed by Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for last month’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

Egypt and Qatar have served as key mediators with Hamas, but their influence is limited.

Any pressure exerted on Hamas' exiled leadership is unlikely to have much impact on Sinwar, who was appointed the overall head of Hamas after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. Sinwar is believed to have spent most of the past 10 months living in tunnels under Gaza, and it is unclear how much contact he has with the outside world.

The United States has provided crucial military support for Israel throughout the conflict and has shielded it from international calls for a cease-fire. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden paused a shipment of hundreds of 2,000-pound (900-kilogramme) bombs to pressure Israel not to invade the southern city of Rafah - which it did anyway.

US election politics could also blunt American pressure. Biden has shown little inclination to pressure Netanyahu, and Vice President Kamala Harris has offered no concrete policy changes. Donald Trump has urged Israel to finish up its offensive but would likely be even more accommodating to Netanyahu, as he was during his presidency.

Agencies