Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and US Secretary of State H E Antony Blinken during a joint press conference.
Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that Qatar has received response on ceasefire proposal from Hamas which has been handed over to Israel.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said that he saw ‘promising prospects’ for ceasefire negotiations. “We hope better results from the talks after getting response from Hamas.”
“We received the response, just a few hours ago, and sent it to the Israeli side. Now, of course, the matter will be subject to further negotiations on the details of the agreement, and we seek to reach an agreement as quickly as possible in partnership with our partners, whether in the United States or in the Arab Republic of Egypt,” he said in a joint press conference with US Secretary of State H E Antony Blinken yesterday.
“We have received a response from the Hamas movement regarding the general framework of the agreement between the parties regarding what concerns the hostages. The response includes some comments on the framework but in its entirety it is a positive response to the framework. Due to the sensitivity of this stage, it is not possible to go into details.”
He said that the details of the proposal and Hamas’ response could not be shared due to sensitivities attached with the matter.
“Our meeting today with the Secretary of State also discussed all developments in the war, especially the expansion of the unfortunate situation that we are witnessing recently and the repercussions of this crisis on the security and stability of the region,” he added.
In the past few weeks, the Prime Minister said: “We have witnessed various tensions in addition to the war on Gaza, as it spilled over from the borders of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories to surrounding countries in the region, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, as well as in the Red Sea.”
“We have also warned, from the first day, that the outbreak of confrontations means other dangers and the expansion of the circle of violence in the region, and since the region also suffers from ongoing and chronic crises and conflicts, we are saddened to see these fears become a reality for us today, and this matter complicates the situation further.”
He added: “It exposes the ongoing negotiations to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip to danger. Therefore, we call on all parties to exercise the utmost levels of self-restraint, give priority to the voice of wisdom, avoid escalation, and not take decisions that might lead to more bloodshed, avoid harming civilians and freedom of commercial navigation.”
He said based on the directives of His Highness the Amir, 75 Qatari military aircraft have been sent to Gaza with aid including supplies, foodstuffs, medical supplies and field hospitals.
“In cooperation with our partners in the United Kingdom, France and Italy, in addition to the organising committee, more than 600 Palestinians were evacuated from Gaza, including about 200 patients to receive treatment in Doha.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that proposal details could not be shared due to sensitivities. He said that they were working tirelessly for an expanded calm, getting the hostages released and getting assistance in.
He said that diplomacy is a continuous process and the US is working on a daily basis to diffuse the crisis and stop its escalation in the region.
He said that he had held ‘very fruitful conversations’ with H H the Amir and H E the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“We had constant engagement at the highest levels of our respective governments going back many weeks now – months. We are in intense focus on release of hostages and getting extended pause to help address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. And we saw results of the initial pause, 105 hostages were out with significant increase in the humanitarian assistance getting in.”
“As the Prime Minister (of Qatar) just said Hamas responded tonight, we are reviewing that response now and discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow.”
He said that there is still a lot of work to be done “but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed essential.”
“We are also determined to continue any pause to get diplomatic path forward to a just and lasting peace and security for the region and it is the best way to ensure that October 7 and tragic loss of life of the Israelis and Palestinians is not repeated.”
He said that it was a practical, time-bound and irreversible path to the Palestinian state (existing) side by side in peace with Israel with necessary security arrangements for both people. “One of our key objectives is to continue the sequences on all the steps that would be necessary to enable us to move down to that path.”
He said that the US is seeking to prevent escalation not to fuel it. “We will continue to use every tool available for expanded pause, get hostages out and get more assistance in that brings calm to Gaza’s civilians and keeps the policy moving forward to more security to the region. In these efforts we are very fortunate that we have Qatar as partner.”
