Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed bin Abdelrahman, whose country is a key mediator for a truce in the Gaza Strip, warned Wednesday that The negotiations for this purpose “are going through sensitive moments” and “some stagnation”and regretted the escalation in the region due to the recent Iranian attack against Israel.
“Unfortunately, the negotiations are going through sensitive moments (…) they are between continuity and stagnation (…) in this phase they suffer from some stagnation,” Abdelrahman said at a press conference in Doha after a meeting with his Romanian counterpart, Marcel Ciolacu. .
Unfortunately, the negotiations are going through sensitive moments (…) they are between continuity and stagnation (…) in this phase they suffer from some stagnation.
“We are trying to overcome this stalemate as much as possible to end the suffering of the inhabitants of Gaza and, at the same time, recover the hostages” held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas since its massive attack against Israel on October 7, he added.
Abdelrahman regretted that “The entire area is also going through sensitive moments”alluding to concern about an eventual Israeli response to Saturday's massive Iranian attack, with hundreds of drones and missiles, against the Jewish State.
“We have seen an escalation in recent days and we invite all parties to put an end to it to prevent the area from going into other circles of conflict,” he stressed.
He also reiterated that His country “clearly condemns the murder and aggression against all civilians, but it is not possible to allow the policy of mass punishment against the inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank”while he linked the war in the Strip with the escalation of violence in the Middle East.
“We warned from the beginning (of the war in the Palestinian enclave) against a possible expansion of the conflict, and now we see conflicts on other fronts and (we see) a relationship between them and what is happening in Gaza,” he insisted.
The Qatari prime minister once again highlighted that “there will be no peace or lasting solution in the Middle East without a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem”, occupied by Israel since 1967, since – he added – “the Palestinian cause cannot be ignored.” .
Last Saturday, Hamas conveyed to Egypt and Qatar its rejection of the latest proposal for a truce in Gaza, mediated by the United States, given that It proposed a temporary pause of six weeks and did not comply with the permanent ceasefire, one of its main demands.
Among the demands of the Palestinian group is also the withdrawal of “the Israeli occupation army” from all of Gaza, the return of displaced people from the north of the Strip and a greater entry of humanitarian aid and the beginning of reconstruction.
More than 33,800 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip last October and thirty minors have died from acute malnutrition.
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