Qatar pushes for momentum amid stagnant Gaza peace talks

Qatari and Israeli relations have begun to seriously deteriorate due to Qatar’s inability to broker a Gaza peace deal. 

As reported by The New Arab, Qatar–alongside the United States and Egypt–had successfully managed to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas on January 19. 

The truce halted the war which at that point had been ongoing for just over a year since it started on October 7, 2023.

It allowed a large amount of desperately needed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, as well allowing the safe return of many of the Israeli hostages that were being held by Hamas.

However, despite the initial successes of the truce ,Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza on March 18, launching multiple air and ground attacks in the region.

In addition to its renewed military actions, Israel also began blockading all humanitarian aid and assistance from entering Gaza.   

As previously reported on by Maghrebi, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, in a statement on April 16, justified the blockade as one of the “main pressure levers” that Israel could use against Hamas in an effort to force their surrender of Gaza.

The minister went on to state that “no one is currently allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza.” 

With the renewal of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the prospect of a genuine peace deal between the two sides appears further out of reach than ever.. 

Commenting on the lack of progress, Qatar’s chief negotiator Mohammed Al-Khulaifi expressed his frustration during a statement on April 18 regarding the stalled negotiations.

“We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiations,” Mr. Khulaifi admitted. Nevertheless, despite the lack of progress, he reaffirmed that all sides “will remain committed” to actively finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in order to end it permanently. 

The New Arab, Maghrebi