Israel-Gaza updates: Netanyahu says Israel 'can't be flexible' on some issues

Negotiations are "just starting there in Doha," Qatar, despite Hamas saying it will not attend the talks, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a call Thursday.

"We're at a point now where the framework is generally accepted and where the gaps are in the execution of the deal, the individual muscle movements that go with putting the deal in place," Kirby said.

"In the past, it has worked very similar to how it's working in Doha today, where mediators will sit and discuss work things out, and then those mediators will be in touch with Hamas, and then the Hamas leaders in Doha then communicate directly with Mr. Sinwar for final answers," Kirby said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Forces chief Herzi Halevi are at odds over a key provision amid cease-fire negotiations -- IDF withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

The IDF chief of staff said that holding on to any part of Gaza or the Philadelphi corridor are conditions Israel should not break a potential deal with Hamas over. The IDF can deal with being out of Gaza and giving up the control on Philadelphi, Halevi said.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu firmly stands by the principle that the IDF will remain physically on the Philadelphi axis, according to a source close to Netanyahu.

A U.S. delegation is in the Qatari capital of Doha for the resumption of cease-fire talks related to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

CIA chief Bill Burns is part of the U.S. group, while the head of Mossad -- David Barnea -- is with the Israeli delegation. High level Egyptian officials are also in attendance.

The talks are being hosted by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Discussions will take place over two days.

Hamas is not taking part in the negotiations. The group announced on Wednesday it would not send a representative in protest of what it said was Israel’s failure to commit to negotiating on the basis of a July 2 cease-fire proposal.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti

Israel’s war in Gaza has hit another grim milestone after the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip declared that the death toll had passed 40,000 since the start of the war on Oct. 8.

On Thursday officials in Gaza said a total of 40,005 people had been killed in the conflict.

That figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said there were about 6,000 women and 11,000 children among the dead.

The true death toll in Gaza, after more than 10 months of war, could be significantly higher than the Health Ministry’s figure because officials in Gaza estimate that an additional 10,000 people in Gaza are unaccounted for because of the war.

-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Diaa Ostaz and Becky Perlow

Editor's note: This post has been corrected to report that about 6,000 women and 11,000 children have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.