Negotiations over a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal — framed by U.S. officials as a “final stage” bid to end the conflict — are set to resume Thursday, as local health authorities said that the Palestinian death toll has passed 40,000.

       The United States and mediating partners Egypt and Qatar will be joined by Israeli representatives in the Qatari capital, Doha, but Hamas will not attend, Ghazi Hamad, a member of the group’s negotiating team, confirmed to The Washington Post on Wednesday.

       These are the first substantive talks since the assassination of a key member of Hamas’s negotiating team, Ismail Haniyeh, on a trip to Tehran last month. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the killing of the Hamas leader — though it told U.S. officials immediately afterward that it was responsible.

       Hamas says that it will reengage if it receives a “clear commitment” from Israel on its latest proposal. The group has informed mediators that it is willing to meet with them after the Thursday session if there are developments, or a serious response from Israel, according to an official familiar with the negotiations who, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

       State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Qatari diplomats “have assured us that they will work to have Hamas represented.”

       The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that the death toll among Palestinians had now passed 40,000 people — a grim milestone that underscored the scale of the war’s toll on the enclave. The health authority’s count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it says the majority of the dead are women and children.

       “Do you know what it means to lose 40,000 of your people? It means that 40,000 women, children, young people, adults and elderly people will no longer be there. The children will never grow up. They will never go to school or university. Women will not give birth and will not be there to hold their children,” said Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director for the Britain-based Medical Aid for Palestinians relief group.

       “It means that 40,000 families are grieving, and their hearts are broken.”

       Israel launched its assault Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 others back to Gaza as hostages. More than 300 Israeli soldiers have also died in combat since a ground invasion began later that month.

       Israel and Hamas blame each other for the delay in reaching an agreement in negotiations to end the fighting and secure the release of hostages still in the Strip.

       During the last round of talks, held in Rome last month, Israel insisted on additions to a framework announced by President Joe Biden on May 31, including its military retaining indefinite control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, according to officials familiar with the process.

       Hamas had appeared to meet the conditions of the proposal announced by Biden, U.S. officials said. That proposal also called for a six-week cease-fire and partial hostage release in its first phase, to be accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas and the free return to northern Gaza of civilians who had fled south to escape Israeli bombardment.

       An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations, said Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resolutely stands by the principle that the Israel Defense Forces physically remains in the Philadelphi Corridor, a position that Hamas has resisted in the past.

       U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar’s prime minister discussed “the importance of finalizing a ceasefire in Gaza” in a call Wednesday, the State Department said. Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected to attend the Thursday talks, officials familiar with the situation said. Blinken also spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty about “diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the region,” according to the State Department.

       Israel is expected to send David Barnea, the head of Mossad, as well as Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon to the talks in Doha. The team will have a mandate from Netanyahu to negotiate, his office said, which has not always been the case. The United States is expected to be represented Thursday by CIA Director William J. Burns, while Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, will also take part in the meetings, officials said. The White House’s Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, is also expected in the region.

       Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, the first woman appointed to the position, resigned Wednesday. Shafik came under intense scrutiny after testifying before a House committee in April about accusations that the university was not doing enough to respond to claims of antisemitism. Columbia became the epicenter of pro-Palestinian student protests that swept the country earlier this year. Shafik twice summoned New York police to campus to disperse the protesters.

       Shira Rubin and Alon Rom contributed to this report.