Talks over Gaza ceasefire at a ‘stalemate’ after Rafah operations, Qatar PM says
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Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation, in Gaza, on May 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DOHA – Talks over a ceasefire in Gaza have reached a stalemate due to Israel's operations in Rafah, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on May 14.
Israeli operations in Rafah, which started earlier in May,
“Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building, but unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are in a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah sent us backwards,” Sheikh Mohammed said at an economic forum in Doha.
Israeli tanks pushed deeper into eastern Rafah, reaching some residential districts, on May 14, stepping up an offensive in the city where more than a million people had been sheltering after being displaced in seven months of war.
Sheikh Mohammed, whose country has mediated heavily between Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel throughout the seven-month-old conflict, said Qatar would keep working to resolve the situation.
“We make it very clear for everyone: our job is limited to our mediation,” he said. “That’s what we will do, that’s what we will continue to do.”
Sheikh Mohammed said the fundamental difference between the two parties was over the release of hostages and ending the war.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
The assault was a retaliation to Hamas militants attacking Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
“There is one party that wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages and there is another party who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war. As long as there is not any commonality between those two things, it won’t get us to a result,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
Sheikh Mohammed warned that even should the war stop, with no clear rescue plan for Gaza, there was a risk of growing radicalisation in the medium term.
“We are very much worried after all these images to see another wave of radicalisation. So security is the key for us in the region. We need to preserve it as much as possible.” REUTERS
