Hamas said Friday the Palestinian group rejected "new conditions" in a Gaza ceasefire plan the United States presented after two days of talks with Israeli negotiators in Qatar.

As international pressure mounted for a ceasefire after more than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden said: "We are closer than we have ever been."

Washington has joined its European allies in pushing for a swift ceasefire in Gaza since the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Iran blamed on Israel prompted threats of retaliation and fears of a wider Middle East war.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been seeking to finalise details of a framework initially outlined by Biden in May, and which he said Israel had proposed.

But months of talks have so far failed to pin down the details of a truce and hostage release deal.

The mediators said that the two days of talks in Doha were "serious and constructive".

In a joint statement, they said the United States had presented a "bridging proposal" that sought to secure a rapid deal at a new round of talks in Cairo next week.

Hamas swiftly announced its opposition to what it called "new conditions" from Israel in the latest plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile called on the mediators to put "pressure" on Hamas "to accept the May 27 principles", referring to Biden's framework.

- 'Need for calm' -

An informed source told AFP that the conditions Hamas objected to included keeping Israeli troops inside Gaza along the territory's border with Egypt, veto rights for Israel on the Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli hostages, and the ability to deport some prisoners rather than send them back to Gaza.

Qatar's lead mediator, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spoke with Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri to brief him about the talks, the foreign ministry in Doha said.

"During the call, they reviewed ... the latest developments in the joint mediation efforts to end the war on the Strip, and stressed the need for calm and de-escalation in the region," the Qatari statement said.

Diplomatic pressure on Israel to agree a truce has increased in recent weeks.

Hamas officials, some analysts and protesters in Israel have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

Ahead of a visit to Israel on Friday with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "The risk of the situation spiralling out of control is rising."

Britain's foreign ministry said the two ministers would "stress there is no time for delays or excuses from all parties on a ceasefire deal" in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his visiting counterparts he expects foreign support "in attacking" Iran if it strikes Israel in revenge for Haniyeh's killing.

Sejourne replied that it would be "inappropriate" to discuss responding to any attack while diplomacy is in high gear to stop it happening.

- 'Abhorrent' settler attack -

A deadly attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank late Thursday drew international condemnation and calls for sanctions against those within the Israeli government who had enabled the upsurge in settler violence against Palestinians, particularly since the Gaza war began.

The Israeli military said "dozens of Israeli civilians, some of them masked", entered the village of Jit, west of Nablus, and "set fire to vehicles and structures in the area, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails". A Palestinian man was shot dead.

Villager Hassan Arman said the settlers were armed with knives, a machine gun and a silencer.

"It was horrific," said UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

"What is striking and important to remember is that yesterday's killing in Jit is not an isolated attack, and it is the direct consequence of Israel's policy of settlement in the West Bank," she added.

The Palestinian foreign ministry described the attack as "organised state terrorism".

The British foreign minister called the attack "abhorrent". The French minister said it was "unacceptable".

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said he would propose sanctions against Israeli government "enablers" of Jewish settler violence.

"Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace," Borrell posted on X.

"The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately," he wrote, vowing to "table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers' enablers, including some Israeli government members".

The last was an apparent allusion to far-right ministers in the Israeli government.

One of them, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was quick to join other Israeli leaders in condemning Thursday night's attack by "criminals".

- 'We are being killed' -

Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

On Thursday, the toll from Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza topped 40,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties.

As the Gaza truce talks drag on, bombs have continued to fall in the Palestinian territory.

"Why did Netanyahu send a delegation to the talks while we are being killed here?" in Jabalia, Mohammed al-Balwi asked among the concrete debris left from a deadly air strike Thursday in north Gaza.

They had found "limbs on the ground", he said.

Witnesses reported air raids on Friday in central Gaza and near the southern city of Khan Yunis.

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US optimistic on Gaza deal, Israel premier seeks 'pressure' on Hamas

Two days of talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza war have closed in Doha, the mediating countries Qatar, Egypt and the United States said on Friday.

The "remaining gaps" between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement are to be closed in the coming days, they said.

Both sides have been presented with a proposal that is in line with the principles of US President Joe Biden's peace plan presented at the end of May. A further meeting is planned in Cairo before the end of next week in order to reach an agreement under these conditions.

"These talks were serious and constructive and were conducted in positive atmosphere," a statement from the three countries read.

"Working teams will continue technical work over the coming days on the details of implementation, including arrangements to implement the agreement's extensive humanitarian provisions, as well as specifics relating to hostages and detainees."

"Senior officials from our governments will reconvene in Cairo before the end of next week with the aim to conclude the deal under the terms put forward," the three mediating countries said further.

Earlier, diplomats with knowledge of the talks' contents told dpa there had been "some progress."

Washington optimistic, Netanyahu wants 'pressure' on Hamas

US President Joe Biden has expressed optimism regarding the conclusion of an agreement in the negotiations over a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

"We are closer than we've ever been," Biden told journalists on the sidelines of an event at the White House on Friday. "I don't want to jinx anything ... We may have something, but we're not there yet."

"It's much, much closer than it was three days ago," Biden said.

To maintain the momentum in the talks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is personally travelling to Israel, planning to depart on Saturday, to "continue intensive diplomatic efforts" on the ground in Israel, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel announced in Washington on Friday.

"Secretary Blinken will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalize an agreement," the spokesman said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on the pressure from mediators to bring the Gaza talks with Hamas to a conclusion.

In a statement, Netanyahu thanked Egypt, Qatar and the United States for their efforts to persuade the Palestinian Islamists to abandon their rejection of a hostage deal.

Israel hopes that their pressure will compel Hamas to accept the proposals from the end of May, so that the details of the agreement can be implemented.

Meanwhile Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Atty said on Friday that a ceasefire is urgently needed in the Gaza Strip to stop a wider escalation in the Middle East and a regional war

"It is possible, as you know, to stop this escalation and work as much as possible and as quickly as possible to reach an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip ... ," the Egyptian minister said after meeting Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Hamas claims Qatar talks deviated from Biden plan

A Hamas representative on Friday expressed reservations about the outcome of the latest round of talks.

The Hamas leadership has received updates on the negotiations in Doha, senior official Mahmoud Mardawi told dpa, arguing that the proposals differ from those made by Biden.

The Islamist movement, which did not attend the talks directly, previously said it would not accept any deviations from Biden's peace plan.

Hamas believes the negotiations should focus on ending the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the coastal territory, the return of displaced people to their homes, reconstruction and the end of the Israeli blockade.

Israel asks Gaza civilians to flee

Earlier Friday on the ground in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military called on civilians in southern and central Gaza to flee ahead of a new military operation.

"The Hamas terrorist organization has established terrorist infrastructure in an area defined as a Humanitarian Area," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Telegram.

It said Hamas had fired rockets towards Israel from the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday.

"The IDF will act against the terrorist organizations in the area," it said.

Using leaflets, text messages, phone calls and media reports in Arabic, the IDF told civilians to move to a humanitarian zone whose borders have been redrawn. The areas affected include northern districts of Khan Younis and the east of the central city of Deir al-Balah.

The IDF said it was giving advance warning to civilians "to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone."

The humanitarian zone in central Gaza is currently being adapted, the IDF added. An army map shows that the area is being reduced in size and that several neighbourhoods are no longer part of the zone.

Fighting in Gaza continued on Thursday, the Israeli military said, as its air force attacked more than 30 targets, including military installations.

The conflict was triggered by the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7.

The high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population have led to sharp international criticism of Israel's actions.

Reaction to West Bank settler violence

Also on Friday, US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said he was "appalled" after a Palestinian was killed in a violent raid by militant Israeli settlers on a village in the West Bank.

"These attacks must stop and the criminals be held to account," Lew wrote on the social media platform X.

A 22-year-old Palestinian was killed by gunfire on Thursday, when around 50 masked settlers stormed the Palestinian village of Jit, west of Nablus, the Palestinian health authority said.

Another Palestinian was seriously injured, according to authorities.

Israeli media reported that the settlers set fire to at least four houses and six cars. According to a media report, the army detained an Israeli and handed him over to the police.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell also criticized the settlers' attack in the West Bank.

"We condemn [the settlers'] attacks in Jit, aimed at terrorizing Palestinian civilians," Borrell wrote in a post on X.

"Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace."

"The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately," Borrell added.

The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has worsened significantly since the start of the current conflict in Gaza.

Since October 7, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks, according to the health ministry.

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has also increased markedly since October 7 last year.

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