Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met with senior Hamas officials in Doha on Tuesday as part of talks to end the war on Gaza, Qatari media reported.
“The meeting comes within the framework of Doha’s efforts to reach a breakthrough in the ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip,” sources told the Al Jazeera news network.
Along with the US and Egypt, Qatar have has for months tried to broker a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group to end the war which has killed over 37,000 people in Gaza since 7 October, mostly women and children.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has rendered much of the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and has displaced nearly all its population.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington is still working with mediators to narrow the gaps in the ceasefire talks.
In comments made during a joint press conference with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken said Egypt and Qatar in particular were working to bridge gaps related to a deal proposal, but claimed that the decision was with Hamas.
Hamas has repeatedly rejected US claims that it was hindering a potential deal. It has conditioned that any agreement includes the full withdrawal of the Israeli military from the enclave. It has also refused to be set aside in any post-war plans for the government Gaza.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have handed to the mediators their response to a three-stage proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
They reiterated that they demand a full withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners and for further aid to be allowed into the enclave, as well as for a sustainable end to Israeli aggression.
Biden’s proposal includes a ceasefire and the release of remaining captives held by Hamas in Gaza. Although the US president called the deal an Israeli proposal, Israel has not yet signalled it would accept it.
