 for talks seeking a long, elusive ceasefire with Gaza's Hamas militant group in exchange for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages. Israel says it's pursuing Hamas fighters that are regrouping in various parts of Gaza nine months into the war. In a letter published Friday in medical journal The Lancet, researchers said that the current death toll in Gaza could be as high as 186,000 or more, amounting to roughly 8 percent of Gaza's population before the war. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.