Gaza mediators will meet in Doha on Thursday for talks aimed at ending the Israeli attack on Gaza, which has raged for more than ten months and has killed nearly 40,000 people.

The talks, hosted by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, will be attended by an Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea and an Egyptian team led by intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Hamas will not participate in the talks, saying it wants to return to the ceasefire proposal backed by Biden and the amendments it presented to that plan on July 2. The Palestinian Islamist group has accused Israel of using the negotiations as a smokescreen to continue its war.

“The launch of new negotiations will allow the occupation to set new conditions and use the negotiating labyrinth to carry out further massacres,” said senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. Reuters.

In the run-up to the talks, Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Related Press His group does not believe that the United States is able or willing to put pressure on Israel to reach an agreement.

Despite Hamas’s absence from this round of talks, there are still chances for progress, as Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya is present in Doha and channels exist between the group and mediators Egypt and Qatar.

A source familiar with the matter said: Reuters It is assumed that the two Arab states will start consultations with Hamas. Its leaders said they would resume talks if there was a “serious response” from Israel.

Biden’s peace proposal in May was touted by the US president as being supported by Israel, but reports continue to emerge of a rift between Netanyahu and the Israeli security apparatus and of power struggles between the coalition partners in the government.

Conflicting reports have emerged in the Israeli media about the mandate with which the Israeli delegation was sent to Doha. Yedioth Ahronoth said the delegation was not given a mandate to discuss core issues, while Haaretz said Netanyahu had given Barnea’s team the power to push the negotiations forward.

Netanyahu’s far-right allies have threatened to leave his coalition if a deal is reached. Netanyahu himself has stressed that a ceasefire is only a temporary measure to ensure the return of prisoners. Hamas, meanwhile, has called for a ceasefire that includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a basic condition for the release of prisoners.

The Biden administration is reportedly keen to conclude peace talks soon, with the Democratic National Convention scheduled to take place next week and the presidential election just around the corner.

Washington has blamed Hamas for delaying negotiations, even though the group has presented its amendments to May’s proposal. In recent days, however, the US has become increasingly critical of Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. In recent days, Smotrich has drawn Washington’s ire with his objections to the negotiations, while Ben-Gvir has been sharply criticized for his recent storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

On Thursday, Haaretz reported that a failure of Thursday’s talks could prompt the Biden administration to finally place the blame on Netanyahu.

Former US President Donald Trump also reportedly intervened to urge Netanyahu to agree to a deal, but the Israeli president denied this on Thursday.

The talks are also linked to Iran’s expected retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran.

Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran would refrain from its attack if an agreement was reached, while Hamas sources said: The new Arab Iran has indicated that it could attack within 48 hours of the conclusion of the talks.

The Biden administration also appears to have made a connection between Iranian retaliation and the Doha talks, possibly to pressure Israel to agree to a deal.

The US State Department said on Thursday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatari Sheikh Mohammed said in a phone call that “no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach an agreement.”