Gaza ceasefire, hostage release talks begin in Doha

A new round of Gaza ceasefire talks was underway in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday, with Israel's spy chief joining his US and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar's prime minister for the closed-door meeting.

The talks began as Gaza health officials reported separately that the death toll in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000 people, a threshold reached after more than ten months of fighting.

The latest round of negotiations, an effort to end the bloodshed in Gaza and bring 115 Israeli and foreign hostages home, were put together as Iran appeared on the point of retaliating against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

With US warships, submarines and warplanes dispatched to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers, Washington is hoping a ceasefire agreement in Gaza can defuse the risk of a full-out wider regional war.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that talks had officially begun but cautioned that they were unlikely to produce an agreement on Thursday and would likely continue on Friday. Another official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters the talks were underway.

Hamas officials, who have accused Israel of stalling, did not join Thursday's talks. However mediators planned to consult with Hamas' Doha-based negotiating team after the meeting, the official briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Israel's delegation includes spy chief David Barnea, head of the domestic security service Ronen Bar, and the military's hostages chief Nitzan Alon, defence officials said on Wednesday.

CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk represented Washington at the talks, convened by Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, with Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel also in Doha.

Israel and Hamas have each blamed the other for failure to reach a deal but in the run-up to Thursday's meeting, neither side appeared to rule out an agreement.

In the lead-up to Thursday's talks, Hamas, which rejects any US or Israeli intervention in shaping the "day after" the war in Gaza, told mediators that if Israel made a "serious" proposal that is in line with Hamas' previous proposals the group would continue to engage in negotiations.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Thursday the group is committed to the negotiation process and urged mediators to secure Israel's commitment to a proposal Hamas agreed to in early July, which he said would end the war and required a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Even as negotiators arrived in Qatar, fighting continued in Gaza, with Israeli troops hitting targets in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.