Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week's ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.
Israel and Iran on Tuesday agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Qatar just hours after the Islamic republic launched a salvo of missiles towards the wealthy Gulf state, targeting the American military base hosted there.
The unprecedented attack on Qatari soil followed Washington's intervention into a days-long war between Israel and Iran which saw US warplanes strike Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting promises of retaliation from Tehran.
In an interview with AFP yesterday, Mr Ansari said Doha - with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo - was now "trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks over Gaza".
"If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again," the spokesperson, who is also an adviser to Qatar's prime minister, said.
US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a new ceasefire in Gaza, saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week.
Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Mr Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides but that Qatar was "heavily involved in talking to every side separately".
A two-month truce, which was agreed as Mr Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards.
Watch: US President Donald Trump says Gaza ceasefire is 'close'
"We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish," Mr Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was "not a far-fetched idea" that pressure from the United States would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza.
"We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table," Mr Ansari said.
There were no casualties on Monday when Iran targeted Al Udeid, the Middle East's biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command.
Mr Ansari said that as leaders were weighing their response to the attack, a call came from the US president to Qatar's emir, saying "there is a possibility for regional stability ... and that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire".
"Qatar could have taken the decision to escalate," Mr Ansari said.
"But because there was a chance for peace ... we opted for that," he added.
Meanwhile Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed 37 people in the enclave, including at least nine children who died in strikes.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP 35 people were killed in seven Israeli drone strikes and airstrikes in various locations.
He added two others were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food aid in the Netzarim zone in central Gaza.
Mr Bassal said the dead included three children who were killed in an airstrike on a home in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
He said at least six more children died in a neighbourhood in the northeast of Gaza City, including some in an airstrike near a school where displaced people were sheltering.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.
Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
AFP images showed mourners crying over the bodies of seven people, including at least two children, at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Video footage filmed from southern Israel showed smoke rising over northern Gaza after blasts.
Israeli restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in October 2023 in response to a deadly attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on 24 June, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages.
Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
