Technical meetings on Gaza ceasefire ongoing: mediator Qatar

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of talks that have failed to end Israel's war on Gaza.

Mediator Qatar confirms 'technical meetings' on Gaza truce ongoing. / Photo: AA
AA

Mediator Qatar confirms 'technical meetings' on Gaza truce ongoing. / Photo: AA

Talks aimed at cementing a truce in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas are ongoing, with "technical meetings" taking place between the parties, mediator Qatar's Foreign Ministry has said.

"The technical meetings are still happening between both sides," ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday, referring to meetings with lower-level officials on the details of an agreement.

"There are no principal meetings taking place at the moment."

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of talks that have failed to end Israel's war on Gaza.

Ansari said there were "a lot of issues that are being discussed" in the ongoing meetings, but declined to go into details "to protect the integrity of the negotiations".

Hamas said at the end of last week that indirect negotiations in Doha had resumed, while Israel said it had authorised negotiators to continue the talks in the Qatari capital.

A previous round of mediation in December ended with both sides blaming the other for the impasse, with Hamas accusing Israel of setting "new conditions".

In December, the Gulf emirate expressed optimism that "momentum" was returning to the talks following Donald Trump's election victory in the United States.

A month earlier, Doha had said it was putting its mediation on hold, and that it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed "willingness and seriousness".

Read More
Read More

Israeli court allows withholding bodies of citizens as bargaining chips

Route 6