As this column goes to press, there are reports of progress in Gaza cease-fire talks as they concluded on Friday after two days of meetings in Doha. Negotiations are expected to resume next week with a "bridging proposal" on the table. 

The mediators include CIA Director Bill Burns and White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk for the United States, along with the host and prime minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egyptian General Intelligence Director Abbas Kamel. Israel Mossad Director David Barnea  attended as a negotiator along with two other Israeli officials. 

The talks have been billed as perhaps the last chance to reach a deal to stave off threatened retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah for Israel killing Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr on July 30 in an airstrike in Beirut and for the assassination of Hamas political bureau Chairman Ismael Haniyeh the next day in Tehran, reportedly with a bomb planted in his guest quarters while in the capital for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The killing of Haniyeh makes the already complicated diplomacy with Hamas that much harder, as ultimate decisions by the organization require a nod from Yahya Sinwar, who is at an undisclosed, underground location in Gaza.