Conflict mediator Qatar on Monday criticised comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which it said he asked the Gulf state to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages, describing them as a new attempt to prolong the Gaza war.
Majed Al-Ansari
Conflict mediator Qatar on Monday criticised comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which it said he asked the Gulf state to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages, describing them as a new attempt to prolong the Gaza war.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the weekend that the pattern of negotiations for a framework ceasefire deal for the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was "not very promising" in recent days.
"The Israeli Prime Minister's recent statements in which he calls on Qatar to pressure Hamas into releasing the (Israeli) hostages are nothing but a new attempt by him to delay and prolong the war for reasons that have become clear to everyone," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari posted in a statement on social media platform X.
It was unclear what comments from Netanyahu the Qatari statement was referring to.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also foreign minister, said on Saturday he could not give details of talks but as with past deals there were two elements: humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the number of Palestinians to be released for Israeli hostages.
Reporting by Jana Choukeir
An apparent drone attack - claimed by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia - hit central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, killing one man and slightly wounding four others, the Israeli military and emergency services said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his U.S. counterpart that military operations in the Gaza Strip have created conditions that would enable a hostage deal to be reached, Gallant's office said on Wednesday.
A meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Middle East was briefly interrupted on Wednesday when two protesters stood with signs and yelled for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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