DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar’s prime minister said on Sunday that efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza have made some progress but an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war remains elusive.
“We have seen on Thursday a bit of progress compared to other meetings yet we need to find an answer for the ultimate question: how to end this war. That’s the key point of the entire negotiations,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister.
Mossad Director David Barnea traveled to Doha on Thursday to meet Sheikh Mohammed amid efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza, Axios reported last week.
Sheikh Mohammed didn’t say which elements of the ceasefire talks had progressed in recent days, but said Hamas and Israel remained at odds over the ultimate goal of negotiations.
He said the militant group is willing to return all remaining Israeli hostages if Israel ends the war in Gaza. But Israel wants Hamas to release the remaining hostages without offering a clear vision on ending the war, he said.
“When you don’t have a common objective, a common goal between the parties, I believe the opportunities (to end the war) become very thin,” Sheikh Mohammed said at a press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Fidan said talks Turkish officials have held with Hamas had shown the group would be more open to an agreement that goes beyond a ceasefire in Gaza and aims for a lasting solution to the crisis with Israel, including a two-state solution.
Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a January ceasefire collapsed, saying it would keep up pressure on Hamas until it frees the remaining hostages still held in the enclave. Up to 24 of them are believed to still be alive.
The Gaza war started after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s offensive on the enclave killed more than 51,400, according to local health officials.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha, Jaidaa Taha, Ahmed Tolba in Cairo and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, writing by Jaidaa Taha and Andrew Mills; editing by David Evans and Giles Elgood)
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