Friday briefing: As Middle East peace talks continue, the threat of Iran looms large

In today's newsletter: Israel's reluctance to compromise is under mounting pressure - will Tehran's intentions change the prospect of peace?

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Good morning. Ten months after Israel's invasion of Gaza began, the death toll compiled by health officials there has reached 40,000 - one in 50 of the territory's prewar population. There are thousands more killed by Israeli forces whose bodies have not yet been recovered. Among those known to have died recently are Ayssel and Asser, four-day-old twins killed in an Israeli airstrike along with their mother and grandmother while their father, Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan, was out registering their births.

While a ceasefire is catastrophically overdue for Palestinians in Gaza, there is still no sign that one will soon be agreed. A new round of talks yesterday in Doha with Israel and mediators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar were said to have got off to a promising start". They are expected to continue today. But Hamas is not participating.

Contaminated blood | Victims of the contaminated blood scandal will begin receiving compensation before the end of the year, with some entitled to more than 2.5m, the government has confirmed. About 3,000 people who contracted HIV or hepatitis C as a result of the infusions have already registered as potential recipients.

Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed Kyiv's troops have full control over the Russian town of Sudzha, which had a prewar population of 5,000 people and contains infrastructure pumping Russian gas towards Europe. Both Ukraine and Russia claimed advances elsewhere in Kursk region on Thursday.

Education | Pupils achieved the best A-level results in a generation on Thursday, with marks that highlighted the growing gap between the strongest and weakest-performing parts of the country.

Mpox | Sweden confirmed its first case of the more contagious variant of mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact, marking the first time it has been found outside Africa. The person was infected while in a part of Africa where there was a large outbreak of the disease.

US news | Five people have been arrested and charged over the death of Matthew Perry, prosecutors said, including the actor's personal assistant and two doctors. The doctors supplied the Friends actor, who died at his Los Angeles home in October 2023, with a large amount of ketamine, the US attorney Martin Estrada said, and took advantage of Mr Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves".