The Qatar government says it has a template for a possible extension of the ceasefire in the Gaza war, which lasted at least four days. “We now have the formula,” said Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, to the German Press Agency on Friday evening. A possible extension of the previously agreed ceasefire would be more of an “appendix to the agreement rather than a new agreement”. The same conditions would then apply as before, said the Foreign Office spokesman. “We have the formula, so it will be easier to get a second deal done.”
Qatar brokered the current ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. This began on Friday morning and is expected to last four days until at least Tuesday morning. It can be extended to a maximum of ten days. Part of the deal is an exchange of up to 100 hostages for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners. It is still too early to talk about an agreement with a long-term ceasefire, said Al-Ansari. The work is just beginning. “We need to build momentum to get confidence-building measures on both sides,” Al-Ansari said. These must lead to “serious discussions about a sustainable ceasefire between both sides”. However, the statements from Hamas and Israel did not give the impression that there is currently room for such discussions.
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