Qatar PM meets Hamas delegation for Gaza ceasefire talks
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani held talks with a Hamas team led by a senior official.
PHOTO: AFP
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DOHA - Qatar’s Prime Minister met a Hamas delegation in Doha on Dec 28 to discuss a “clear and comprehensive” ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, a statement said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani held talks with a Hamas team led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, the Foreign Ministry statement said.
It is unusual for Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar’s Foreign Minister, to be publicly involved in the mediation process that has appeared deadlocked for months.
“During the meeting, the latest developments in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations were reviewed, and ways to advance the process were discussed to ensure a clear and comprehensive agreement that brings an end to the ongoing war in the region,” the statement said.
Earlier in December, the sheikh expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the talks following Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States.
“We have sensed, after the election, that the momentum is coming back,” he said at the Doha Forum political conference.
The incoming Trump administration had given “a lot of encouragement in order to achieve a deal, even before the President comes to the office”, the premier added.
The Gulf emirate, along with the US and Egypt, has been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release.
In November, Doha announced it had put its mediation on hold, saying that it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed “willingness and seriousness”.
But Doha then hosted indirect negotiations in December, with Hamas and Israel both reporting progress before again accusing each other of throwing up roadblocks.
The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,484 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry that the UN considers reliable. AFP
