JAKARTA - Qatar's prime minister said on Sunday efforts to reach a new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Palestine are progressing, but the agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war is still difficult to reach.
"We've seen a bit of progress on Thursday compared to other meetings, but we need to find answers to the main question: how to end this war. That's at the heart of all negotiations," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister. April 28.
Mossad director David Barnea traveled to Doha on Thursday last week to meet Sheikh Mohammed amid efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza, Axios reported last week.
Sheikh Mohammed did not say which elements of the ceasefire negotiations have progressed in recent days, but said Hamas and Israel were still at odds over the ultimate goal of the negotiations.
He further said the militant group was willing to return all remaining Israeli hostages if Israel ended the war in Gaza.
However, Israel wants Hamas to release the remaining hostages without offering a clear vision to end the war, he said.
"When you have no common goal, a common goal between the parties, I believe the opportunity (to end the war) becomes very thin," Sheikh Mohammed explained at a press conference in Doha with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
In turn, Foreign Minister Fidan said talks that Turkish officials had held with Hamas had shown that the group would be more open to deals that exceeded the ceasefire in Gaza and aimed at an endowment to the crisis with Israel, including a two-state solution.
Later, Turkish diplomatic sources said Foreign Minister Fidan had met with senior Hamas officials in Doha to discuss ceasefire negotiations and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"Hamas said they were continuing to seek an eternal ceasefire. They conveyed information about the meetings held in recent days," the source said, adding Foreign Minister Fidan had repeated Turkey would continue international and bilateral efforts for peace in Gaza.
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The latest war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas attacked Israel's southern region, carrying 1,200 people killed and 251 others held hostage, according to Israeli calculations.
Israel continued its attack on Gaza on March 18, after the ceasefire that took effect on January 19 ended, saying it would continue to pressure Hamas to release the hostages who were still being held in the enclave. A total of 24 of them are believed to be still alive.
While quoted from WAFA, the death toll from Palestine since the latest conflict broke out has reached 52,243 people, while 117,639 others have been injured, with the majority of the victims being girls.
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