More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the territory's health ministry says

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — International mediators were set to hold a new round of talks Thursday aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas and securing the release of scores of hostages, a possible agreement seen as the best hope of averting an even larger regional conflict.

The US, Qatar and Egypt were due to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll in the 10-month war rose to over 40,000, according to local health authorities. Hamas has not said whether it will attend, accusing Israel of adding new demands to an earlier proposal that was supported by the US and around the world and to which Hamas had agreed in principle.

A ceasefire in Gaza would likely calm tensions across the region. Diplomats hope it would persuade Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas' top political leader in an explosion in Tehran.

Negotiators have spent months working on a three-phase plan that calls for the release of scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, in exchange for a permanent ceasefire for Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians held captive by Israel.

Both sides have agreed in principle to the plan announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31, but Hamas has proposed “changes” and Israel has proposed “clarifications”, leading both sides to accuse each other of making new demands they cannot accept.

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Hamas has rejected Israel's latest demands, which include a permanent military presence along the border with Egypt and a line through Gaza where Hamas would search for Palestinians returning to their homes to track down militants. Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told the Associated Press the group was only interested in discussions on implementing Biden's proposal, not further negotiations on its content.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that Israel has made new demands, but has repeatedly questioned the duration of the ceasefire and said Israel remains committed to “total victory” against Hamas and the release of all hostages.

The two sides also disagree on the details of the hostage exchange. For example, it is not clear which of the Palestinian prisoners can be released and whether they will be sent into exile. Hamas is demanding the release of high-ranking militants who were convicted of organizing attacks that killed Israelis.

The most persistent dispute revolved around the transition from the first phase of the ceasefire – in which women, children and other defenseless hostages are released – to the second phase, in which captured Israeli soldiers are released and a permanent ceasefire comes into force.

Hamas fears Israel will resume the war after the first group of hostages is released. Israel fears Hamas will delay talks on the release of the remaining hostages indefinitely. Hamdan presented documents showing Hamas agreed to a US bridging proposal that transition talks would begin on the 16th day of the first phase and be concluded in the fifth week.

Recently, Hamas has objected to what it claims are new Israeli demands to maintain a presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and on a road connecting north and south Gaza. Israel denies that these are new demands, saying it needs a presence along the border to prevent arms smuggling and that it must search Palestinians returning to northern Gaza to ensure they are not armed.

The demands were only recently made public. According to documents obtained by the AP and confirmed by officials involved in the negotiations, Hamas has demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, which was also part of all previous versions of the ceasefire proposal.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed the heavily guarded border on October 7. The attack shocked Israel's vaunted security and intelligence agencies. The fighters rampaged through farming communities and army bases, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

They kidnapped another 250 people. Over 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November, and about 110 are believed to still be in Gaza, although Israeli authorities believe about a third of them died on October 7 or in captivity. Seven were rescued during military operations.

The Israeli retaliatory offensive killed 40,005 Palestinians and injured 92,401, Gaza's Health Ministry said on Thursday. It did not say how many of them were militants. The offensive left a trail of devastation across the entire area and has displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes, often multiple times.

Successive evacuation orders and military operations have driven hundreds of thousands of people into a so-called humanitarian zone along the coast, where they live in overcrowded tent camps with few amenities. Aid agencies have struggled to deliver food and supplies, prompting warnings of famine.

Hamas has suffered heavy losses, but its fighters have always managed to regroup, even in heavily damaged areas where Israeli forces had previously operated. Its supreme leader and one of the architects of the October 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, is believed to still be alive and hiding in Gaza, probably in Hamas' vast network of tunnels.

Hezbollah has been exchanging blows with Israel along the border, in what the Lebanese militant group called a support front for its ally Hamas. Other Iranian-backed groups in the region have attacked Israeli, American and international targets, provoking retaliation.

April marked the first time that direct fire was exchanged between Iran and Israel, after Iran retaliated against an Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Many fear a repeat following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting Iran for the inauguration of the new president. Blame for the explosion was widely placed on Israel. Israel has not commented on whether it was involved.

Hezbollah has since vowed revenge for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shukur, raising fears that the war between Israel and the militant group in 2006 could be an even more devastating continuation.

Still, Iran and Hezbollah say they do not want a full-scale war, and a ceasefire in Gaza could offer a way out of the crisis after days of escalating threats and a massive military buildup across the region.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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