Officials from the United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar resumed talks on a Gaza ceasefire in Doha on Monday, but no progress toward a solution is expected before the U.S. presidential election on Oct. 5.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is waiting to see who will succeed US President Joe Biden before making any diplomatic commitments, sources told The New York Times. He has also made clear that he has no intention of ending the genocidal war on Gaza, repeatedly saying he would only agree to a temporary truce that would allow Israel to resume military operations.

Hamas's position was that any agreement must include a permanent ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. But Netanyahu's insistence on keeping troops in Gaza, and his demand to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border sabotaged the latest round of negotiations.

"The discussion about the post-Sinwar conflict in Gaza" and whether there is now a horizon for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday: "I think it's too early to say, to be completely honest."

“I think Hamas has a process to go through to choose a new leadership,” he added. “It appears to be going through that process now. Obviously, we don’t have a lot of insight into Hamas’s internal decision-making process, but based on our conversations in the region, our understanding is that Hamas is now run by a body. At some point, it will go through a process to choose a new leader. I think the results over the next few weeks will determine whether there is a change in their position.”

“What we do know is that the roadblock we faced before his death was that Sinwar ruled out further negotiations on any issue,” Miller explained. “The proposal he made in July was his final offer, and he was not willing to negotiate any further, and he had the ability to make that decision. He was the clear leader of Hamas.”

Earlier this month, Haaretz reported that the Israeli government was not interested in new ceasefire talks and was instead focused on pursuing annexation of territory in Gaza. Since then, Israeli forces have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, prompting the United States to call for new truce talks.

While Israel has agreed to new talks, its military operations in Gaza have been relentless. Israeli forces are imposing a blockade on northern Gaza as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign known as the “General’s Plan,” which calls for the forced expulsion of Palestinian civilians from the north and the extermination of anyone who remains.

While the United States has called on Israel to re-engage in ceasefire talks, it has not put any real pressure on Israel to agree to a deal because it continues to provide military aid, which Israel relies on to support operations in Gaza.