Negotiators were due to meet again in the Qatari capital Doha on Friday to negotiate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to attack targets in the Palestinian enclave.

Separately, Gaza Health Ministry officials reported on Thursday that the death toll had exceeded 40,000 after more than ten months of fighting.

That round of negotiations began on Thursday and talks would continue for a second day on Friday, Qatari and U.S. officials said.

A US official briefed on the discussions in Doha who asked not to be identified told Reuters that Thursday’s talks were “constructive”.

“This is vital work. The remaining obstacles can be overcome and we must bring this process to a conclusion,” US security spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its assault on Gaza. Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least six Palestinians on Thursday evening.

Previously, Israeli troops had attacked targets in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

In a statement posted on Telegram late Thursday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said Israel’s ongoing operations were an obstacle to progress on a ceasefire. Hamas representatives did not attend Thursday’s talks.

Badran said the talks must work towards implementing a previously agreed framework agreement and achieve a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of displaced Palestinians and a hostage exchange.

“Hamas views the ongoing negotiations in Doha on a ceasefire and hostage exchange from a strategic perspective with the aim of ending the aggression against Gaza,” he added.

The mediators plan to consult with Hamas’ Doha-based negotiating team after the meeting, the US official told Reuters.

According to defense officials, the Israeli delegation includes intelligence chief David Barnea, domestic intelligence chief Ronen Bar and military hostage chief Nitzan Alon.

The White House sent CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel also attended.

The negotiations, aimed at ending the bloodshed in Gaza and bringing home 115 Israeli and foreign hostages, began as Iran appeared ready to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Risk of escalation

Washington has sent warships, submarines and fighter jets to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers. Washington now hopes that a ceasefire agreement in Gaza can defuse the risk of a larger regional war.

The White House said late Thursday that attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank were “unacceptable and must stop” after dozens of settlers attacked a village, killing at least one person.

Looking ahead to the US presidential election on November 5, Republican candidate Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration’s months-long calls for a ceasefire, saying it would “only give Hamas time to regroup.”

Israel and Hamas blame each other for the failure of an agreement, but neither side rules out an agreement.

On Wednesday, a source in the Israeli negotiating team said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given considerable leeway on some key points of contention.

The gaps include the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza, the sequence of hostage releases and the restriction of freedom of movement of civilians from the southern to the northern Gaza Strip.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the death toll in Gaza of over 40,000 reported by the enclave’s health ministry was a “grim milestone for the world”.

“This unimaginable situation is largely due to repeated violations by the Israeli Defense Forces in observing the rules of war,” he said in a statement from Geneva on Thursday.

Separately, the Israeli military said it had “eliminated” more than 17,000 Palestinian militants during its Gaza campaign.

In the devastated Gaza Strip, where the war has displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population from their homes, there was a desperate desire for an end to the fighting.

“We are full of hope this time. I am afraid it will either happen this time or never,” Aya, 30, who is seeking refuge with her family in Deir Al-Balah in the central part of the Gaza Strip, told Reuters via a chat app.

The war began after a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which the militants killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli sources, prompting Israel to launch a retaliatory attack on Gaza.