“This painful period in the region should end,” said Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha.

He explained that US negotiators will meet Israeli negotiators in Doha to reach a breakthrough.

"There has been an engagement with the representatives from the Hamas political bureau in Doha and we had some meetings with them in the last couple of days," he said.

The Qatari FM added: "Discussions between Egypt and Hamas were also ongoing."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporteres in Doha that the US was open to “different options” to ending the Gaza war, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He added: “We haven’t yet determined whether Hamas is prepared to engage, but the next step is getting the negotiators together … we’ll certainly learn more in the coming days.”

Israel has rejected all previous ceasefire plans, including a Biden proposal in May and another tentative agreement in early July as PM Benjamin Netanyahu opted to expand his genocidal campaign against Gaza in recent months.

“Today, we’re announcing an additional $135m in humanitarian assistance, water sanitation, internal health for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in the region,” Blinken announced in Qatar, saying it brought the US total to $1.2 billion since 7 October 2023.

The US has provided Israel with $18 billion dollars to fund its war on Gaza which killed and wounded 150,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the strip.