Crucial talks on a ceasefire and hostage release in the Gaza Strip dragged on into a second day in Doha on Friday as international mediators tried to broker a deal that also aims to ease growing hostilities in the region and prevent an all-out war between Israel and Iran.

The United States called the meeting jointly with Egypt and Qatar to end months of deadlock in negotiations and reach an agreement that would end fighting between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held by the militant Palestinian group.

After intelligence chiefs from Israel, the United States and Egypt arrived in the Qatari capital on Thursday, the mediators initially focused on the Israeli position. According to several people briefed on the talks, Hamas representatives are not present but will be approached by the mediators after the summit ends.

“This has been the norm since negotiations with intermediaries began,” one person said.

The US administration under President Joe Biden has tried to put a positive spin on the talks. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said on Thursday: “We have already closed some gaps.”

“The remaining obstacles can be overcome and we must bring this process to a conclusion. We must achieve the release of the hostages, assistance for the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, security for Israel and a de-escalation of tensions in the region,” Kirby added.

Still, it remains unclear to what extent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to soften some of the additional demands he has made in recent weeks.

Among the biggest sticking points, according to people briefed on the talks, is Israel’s insistence that it will not withdraw from the border region between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphia Corridor and that displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return freely to the north of the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu insists he has not set any new conditions and blames Hamas for the impasse. The long-serving Israeli president rejects a permanent end to the war and has said he would only agree to an initial six-week ceasefire.

On Thursday, he reiterated that Israeli forces would not leave the Philadelphia Corridor under any agreement.

Hamas, for its part, has backed away from its long-standing demand that an agreement must guarantee a complete end to the war from the outset, people familiar with the talks said.

Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said on Thursday that the group demands that “all negotiations must be based on a clear plan to implement what was previously agreed.”

“Any agreement must achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, a complete disengagement from Gaza, the return of displaced people and reconstruction, and a prisoner exchange,” he added in a statement.

The stakes for the potential deal in Gaza, where local health officials say the war has killed 40,000 people, have risen even higher following the killing of two senior Iran-backed militant leaders last month, sparking fears of a regional escalation.

Fuad Shukr, a senior commander of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, while Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated hours later in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s killing, but Iran and Hezbollah have threatened “harsh punishment” against the Jewish state.

The United States and its allies believe that a ceasefire and an end to the Gaza war are the most realistic way to end the cycle of regional hostilities it has triggered.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné were due to travel to Israel on Friday to stress that “there is no time for delays or excuses from any party regarding a ceasefire agreement,” they said in a joint statement.

“The UK and France are united in calling for a diplomatic solution to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and restore calm along the Israeli-Lebanese border,” they added.

The talks came as tensions rose in the occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian was shot dead late Thursday night after dozens of Israeli settlers rampaged through the village of Jit, attacking locals and setting fire to homes.

Another Palestinian was also seriously injured by live ammunition, according to Palestinian health authorities and eyewitnesses.

Netanyahu condemned the attack and said he viewed the “unrest” with “utmost severity.”

“It is the (Israel Defense Forces) and the security forces that fight terrorism, and no one else,” he added, vowing that those responsible would be “arrested and brought to justice.” No one had been arrested by midday Friday.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the incident was a “terrible moral low point” that “has nothing to do with Judaism.”

Jack Lew, US ambassador to Israel, wrote on X on Friday that he was “horrified” by the attacks and said they must “stop and the criminals must be held accountable.”