Pressure for truce deal builds as Gaza death toll surpasses 40,000

US, Israel to attend talks, said to have begun in Qatar; not known if Hamas is taking part

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Pressure built for a Gaza ceasefire to be agreed at talks that resumed on Aug 15 in Qatar, aiming to stop the spread of a war that the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said has killed more than 40,000.

A source with knowledge of the talks confirmed to AFP that they had begun in the Qatari capital Doha. The source did not disclose whether Hamas had sent any delegates to the talks, which Israel and CIA director William Burns planned to attend.

In a veiled warning to Iran, Hamas and Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani said "no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach a deal", the US State Department said.

In a telephone call, the two discussed "efforts to calm" regional tensions "and the importance of finalising a ceasefire in Gaza", it said.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have invited Israel and Hamas for negotiations focused on ending the war that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Aug 15 said has killed 40,005 people in the coastal territory.

The ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties, said the toll included 40 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

Fallout from the conflict has drawn in Iran-aligned groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

In Beirut on Aug 14, visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein said he and Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri agreed "there is no more time to waste and there's no more valid excuses from any party for any further delay".