An Israeli delegation traveled to Qatar after a new proposal from Hamas earlier this week raised renewed hopes for a truce deal, as fighting continues in Gaza.
Israeli negotiators, led by spy chief David Barnea, met with mediators in Doha on Friday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Talks will resume next week, according to the office, when another negotiating team will deploy to Qatar.
The office added that there are still “gaps between the parties” in their positions.
The latest development came after Hamas said on Wednesday it had presented new “ideas” to Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators on how to reach a ceasefire deal and a captive swap to halt the nine-month-old conflict.
At least 38,011 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, which began after a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7 that killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics.
Although details of Hamas' latest proposal were not immediately clear, a U.S. official said Thursday that they contained a substantial change from the group's previous position. The official, in a call with reporters, described the update as a “major step forward,” while warning that hurdles remain.
On Friday, Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said the group's latest proposals “have met with a positive response from mediators,” but added that “the official Israeli position has not yet been made clear,” according to the Associated Press news agency.
Both Israel and Hamas have been under increasing pressure to reach a deal, but talks around a United Nations-backed plan outlined by US President Joe Biden in May have stalled in recent weeks.
A major sticking point for Hamas has been whether Israel will resume fighting after the dozens of Israeli prisoners still held by the group are released. Meanwhile, despite repeated U.S. claims that Israel supports the plan, Netanyahu has repeatedly said the war will not end until Hamas is “eradicated.”
In a call with Biden on Thursday, Netanyahu again said the war would only end when Israel “achieves all its objectives.”
Fighting continues in Gaza
Despite the latest diplomatic outpouring, fighting continued in Gaza on Friday, with Israeli forces focusing their attacks on the southern towns of Khan Younis and Rafah and Gaza City in the north.
At least 10 bodies have been brought to Nasser Hospital following the attacks on the two southern towns, hospital officials told Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
He also reported “relentless” attacks in the Shujayea neighborhood of Gaza City, where he said the Israeli military has been “demolishing entire blocks.”
Meanwhile, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said its fighters had killed 10 Israeli soldiers in an ambush in Shujayea. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the claim.
Tensions remained high on the Lebanese-Israeli border, where increased fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military has continued to fuel fears of a wider escalation. The Lebanese group said it had attacked several Israeli military positions near the border on Friday.
Hezbollah later said in a statement that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had met with a Hamas delegation to discuss “the latest developments in the negotiations” and “political and security developments” in Gaza and the region.
The fighting in Gaza has uprooted about 90 percent of Gaza's population, forcing many to live in unsanitary conditions with little access to medical care or other aid. Nearly 500,000 people face “catastrophic” famine in the enclave, according to the United Nations.
On Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic warned that Israeli military orders this week for more than 250,000 Palestinians to evacuate east of Khan Younis would only further aggravate the humanitarian catastrophe.
“This evacuation decision will almost certainly worsen overcrowding and cause severe shortages in the remaining hospitals, which are already overwhelmed, at a time when access to emergency medical care is critical,” the two wrote in a joint statement, adding that forced evacuations are creating “a humanitarian crisis within a crisis.”
“A ceasefire is now more important than ever and would allow for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza as well as the release of all hostages,” they said.
