Middle East: Cease-fire talks restart in Doha without Hamas

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said late on Thursday that long-stalled cease-fire talks in Doha would continue for a second day as planned on Friday. 

The spokesman said mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States were working towards reaching a truce that would facilitate the release of hostages and enable the largest possible amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

Hamas, which governs Gaza, refused to attend the latest round of talks. Instead, it said mediators should impose terms and "compel" Israel to comply.

Hamas and the mediators, however, say the group is still participating indirectly.

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby called the talks an important step on Thursday, but said a lot of work remained given the complexity of any potential agreement.

Meanwhile, the UK and France announced that their foreign ministers would make a joint visit to the region starting on Friday, as international diplomats try to turn down Middle East tensions. 

The UK's David Lammy and France's Stephane Sejourne are expected to meet their Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Friday, among other appointments. 

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari says the military had "eliminated" more than 17,000 Palestinian militants in Gaza since the start of the war.

The Israel Defense Forces did not provide evidence, and declined to say if the number referred only to those who had been killed or whether it included those captured or injured.

Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry said Thursday that the death toll in the territory has now passed 40,000 since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas militants last October.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told the Turkish parliament that he will visit Gaza and Jerusalem to protest Israel's war on the enclave. 

Abbas stressed that he saw no end to the conflict unless Israel withdrew from occupied Palestinian lands.

The Palestinian leader met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the war and ceasefire efforts. 

Thursday saw him address an extraordinary session of Turkey's parliament general assembly at the invitation of Turkey's government.

Abbas delivered a 46-minute speech attended by Erdogan, his ministers and lawmakers from all political parties. 

He accused Washington of prolonging the "catastrophe" by supporting Israel and repeatedly vetoing resolutions at the United Nations Security Council. 

Abbas also urged the world to legally punish Israel for war crimes and violations of international law.

"I have decided to head with the Palestinian Authority (PA) members to the Gaza Strip. I will exert every effort so we can all be with our people to stop this barbaric aggression even if it costs us our lives," Abbas said. 

Abbas also said he would go to Jerusalem but did not specify when he would visit.

The White House says that Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar had a "promising start" but that it did not expect to close a deal immediately.

Washington said the talks, which involve CIA Director William Burns and other US officials, would run through Friday.

"There remains a lot of work to do," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "Given the complexity of the agreement, we do not anticipate coming out of these talks today with a deal," he said.

Kirby added: "Remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close."

"We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and lower tensions in the region, and we need to see those things as soon as possible."

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have mediated for months between Israel and Hamas. Hamas, which did not participate directly, says Israel has added new demands to a previous proposal. This proposal had US and international support, and Hamas had also agreed to it in principle.

President Joe Biden put forward a ceasefire plan on May 31 and last week joined Qatar and Egypt in urging the start of the latest talks.

Following the killing of an Israeli hostage by a Hamas guard on Monday, a spokesperson for the group said that the guard had disobeyed instructions and wanted to get revenge for the killing of his two children in an Israeli air strike.

"The [Hamas] soldier assigned as guard acted in a retaliatory manner against instructions after he received information that his two children were martyred in one of the massacres conducted by the enemy," Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said on Telegram.

"The incident doesn't represent our ethics and the instructions of our religion in dealing with captives. We will reinforce the instructions," he added.

Hamas is classified as a terror group by the US, Germany, Israel, and others.

Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry said Thursday that the death toll in the territory has now passed 40,000 since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas militants last October.

The health body said at least 40,005 people have been killed in the conflict, including 40 in the previous 24 hours.

Israel's offensive has also seen 92,401 people injured, while 85% of the population have been displaced, according to the local health authority.

A new round of talks aiming to end the 10-month-old conflict in Gaza have begun in the Qatari capital Doha.

Israel's spy chief joined US and Egyptian representatives as well as the Qatari prime minister after Hamas said it would not join the talks.

But negotiators planned on meeting with Hamas representatives after the talks to brief them on the situation, Reuters reported.

The US is being represented by CIA Director Bill Burns and Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, while Egypt sent its intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Mediators have increased pressure on both sides to find an agreement as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. Many observers fear that the fighting could escalate into a wider regional conflict, potentially involving Iran.

International mediators have been hoping for a breakthrough ever since US President Joe Biden presented a cease-fire proposal at the end of May.

However, Israel has argued against a provision that would see a cessation in fighting as long as the talks go on. Israeli officials have said they believe Hamas would use this as an opportunity to drag out talks as long as possible, using the truce to rebuild military infrastructure.

Hamas has said that it fears Israel would no longer honor the agreement the moment its most vulnerable hostages have been returned. Some 110 Israelis remain in captivity in Gaza.

Both parties have continuously added proposals to the deal over the past two months, including an Israeli plan to maintain forces at a road that bisects Gaza. They say such a force would be necessary to prevent militants traveling between the north and south.

An Iranian hacker group linked to the country's Revolutionary Guard tried to hack the email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump's presidential campaigns, Google said on Wednesday.

Google's threat intelligence arm said a group known as "APT42" used phishing tactics to dupe victims into revealing their login credentials for Gmail and other services.

Aside from the US, the hackers also went after high-profile targets in Israel.

"APT42 is a sophisticated, persistent threat actor and they show no signs of stopping their attempts to target users and deploy novel tactics," Google said.

"This spring and summer, they have shown the ability to run numerous simultaneous phishing campaigns, particularly focused on Israel and the United States." 

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned on Wednesday after she faced scrutiny over her handling of major pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

In April, the Manhattan campus of the Ivy League school was shut down by protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall. Police were called in carrying riot shields and zip ties.

Shafik said in an email to staff and students that her time as Columbia president "has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community."

"This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community," she added.
Shafik made the announcement so that new leadership could be in place in time for the coming academic term. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani have called on all sides not to "undermine" cease-fire talks in Doha on Thursday.

During a phone call on Wednesday, the two stated that "no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach a deal," the US State Department said.

They further discussed "efforts to calm tensions in the region and the importance of finalizing a cease-fire in Gaza," the State Department added.

Fresh talks to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza will kick off in Qatar on Thursday, but militant group Hamas has said it has no plans to participate.

"Going to new negotiations allows the occupation to impose new conditions and employ the maze of negotiation to conduct more massacres," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency.

One reason Hamas is skipping the talks is because the mediators had not presented a plan to implement the cease-fire framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in May, Germany's DPA news agency reported, citing an unnamed Hamas official.

Mediators from the talks, which are set to include delegations from the US, Israel, Egypt and hosts Qatar, are nevertheless expected to consult with Hamas afterward.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Hamas could meet with mediators if they secure a "serious response" from Israel.

Hamas is classified as a terror group by the US, the EU, Germany and others.

An Israeli defense official said Israel's delegation would include the head of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad David Barnea, domestic security chief Ronen Bar and the military's hostages chief Nitzan Alon. The White House said CIA Director Bill Burns and Washington's Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will represent the US at the talks.