Israel-Hamas war latest: Mediators hold cease-fire talks as Palestinian death toll nears 40,000

International mediators were set to hold a new round of talks Thursday aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages, with a potential deal seen as the best hope of heading off an even larger regional conflict.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt were to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month-old war nears 40,000. Hamas has not said whether it will participate, accusing Israel of adding new demands to an evolving proposal that had U.S. and international support.

A cease-fire in Gaza would likely calm tensions across the region and may persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to refrain from retaliatory strikes on Israel after the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Iran’s capital.

The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

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Here’s the latest:

Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinians in West Bank, says the Health Ministry in the occupied territory

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Health Ministry in the West Bank said Thursday that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied territory, the latest deaths in surging violence there.

The Israeli military said aircraft killed two gunmen who were identified as a threat to troops operating in the city of Nablus. It said it also returned fire when troops were shot at.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the men killed as Wael Misha, 18, and Ahmed Khalil, 20. There was no immediate claim from militant groups over whether the men had any affiliation.

The West Bank has seen surging violence since the war in Gaza erupted last year.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, most in clashes with the Israeli military or people throwing stones. Others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

Australian opposition leader called ‘racist’ in heated exchange in Parliament

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia's opposition leader was called “racist” by an independent lawmaker in a heated scene in Parliament on Thursday after the leader repeated a call for the country to stop the arrival of refugees from Gaza.

Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, said those fleeing the conflict between Israel and Hamas were a “national security risk” and that Australia had inadequate screening measures for those arriving in the country as refugees.

Australia has issued almost 3,000 visitor visas to people fleeing Gaza or the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, while denying applications for just over 7,000 others, according to figures the government released in response to Dutton’s remarks initially made on Wednesday — and then repeated on Thursday.

“These are families that you are seeking to paint — that somehow they are all terrorists, that they should all be mistrusted and not worthy of humanitarian aid,” lawmaker Zali Steggall told Dutton in Parliament on Thursday.

As Dutton interjected, Steggall told him to “stop being racist.”

Steggall withdrew the rebuke after the opposition leader said it was “offensive and unparliamentary.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also criticized Dutton in Parliament on Thursday, saying: “He sows fear and he sows division. That is what he does, that’s what he has done his entire political career and that’s what he continues to do.”

Albanese said the government would not divulge all of its national security screening practices.