Ceasefire talks, as Gaza death toll crosses 40,000

A fresh round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations got underway in Doha, Qatar, on Aug. 15. The aim is to reach a deal to bring an end to Israel’s more than 10-month-long war in the Gaza Strip and secure the release of the estimated 115 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups from their Oct. 7 attacks into Israel last year. Forty-one of the hostages are believed to be dead, and the recorded death toll from Israel's military campaign has now reached over 40,000, according to health authorities in Gaza. That's roughly 2% of Gaza’s population—or one out of every 50 residents—that has been killed.

Successive rounds of ceasefire talks since April have so far failed to bring an end to the war and secure the release of hostages. The current round of negotiations has been complicated by the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh—a key figure in previous talks—in Iran on July 31. Iran has vowed to launch retaliatory strikes against Israel, raising fears of a wider regional war. Senior Iranian officials, however, have said they will hold back if Israel agrees to a ceasefire deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now viewed even by the United States as the main obstacle to an agreement. He's vowed to achieve "absolute victory" over Hamas—something his own defense minister Yoav Gallant has called "gibberish." Hamas is not attending the talks in Doha, but is being briefed on what is taking place by mediators.

From The New Humanitarian, Aug. 16