His Foreign Ministry Catarrhone of the key negotiators in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, announced today that the ceasefire in Gaza is being extended for two more days.
“An agreement was reached to extend the humanitarian ceasefire for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” wrote Dr. Majen Bin Mohammed Al Ansari, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, in his post on the X platform.
The news was also confirmed by Hamas. “An agreement was reached with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary humanitarian truce for two more days under the same conditions as the previous truce,” a Palestinian organization official told Reuters. Hamas’s deputy foreign minister in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad, spoke to Al Jazeera and said: “I hope we can extend until we reach the end of this war and aggression against our people in Gaza,” stressing that “there is great support from the Qatari government and the Egyptian government, even from Western governments, they want a ceasefire,” while adding that he hopes to see the international community pressure Israel to end its occupation and “to end this destruction” at the expense of the Palestinians.
The White House “welcomes” the extension of the truce
The White House “welcomes” the extension of the ceasefire in Gaza, national security spokesman John Kirby said today. Washington would “certainly wish the ceasefire to be extended further, and this would depend on the release of additional hostages by Hamas,” he added. John Kirby added that he hopes that American citizens will be among the 20 hostages who will be released later, as 8 to 9 American citizens are believed to still be among the hostages.
The process of releasing the hostages is in progress – Watch live video
“Sustainable, permanent solution to the Palestinian issue”
Optimistic that there will be extension of the ceasefire after the end of the four-day agreement on the exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel, the advisor to the Prime Minister of Qatar and representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, Dr. Majen Bin Mohammed Al Ansari.
“We hope that this humanitarian pause will lead to something more long-term, possibly leading to a ceasefire,” he said in an interview with ERT, shortly before the expiration of the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas. He explained that his country’s efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian issue will continue and underlined that the negotiations focus on freeing hostages and prisoners.
“At the moment we are focusing on the immediate future so to release the hostages and the prisoners, to realize the seriousness of the situation and to lay the foundations for a sustainable solution”, said Dr. Majen Bin Muhammad Al Ansar.
“The hostages are not in the hands of Hamas”
Asked if Hamas could secure the safe return of the hostages, as US officials say other armed groups may be holding some of the Israelis, he replied: “We’ve been getting updates since day one that not all the hostages are in Hamas’ hands. This was also a key reason why we wanted to confirm the status of the hostages, in order to take them to a safe place so that they could then be exchanged within the framework of this agreement. The successful return of the three batches of hostages makes us optimistic that the rest of the hostages will be able to return in the same way.”
“However, this is a war zone and the level of death and destruction in Gaza is incredible and one can understand that gathering information and also moving in the war zone is difficult however according to the information we will receive today we are optimistic that we will be able to to find other hostages and release them in the following days during the extension of the agreement”.
He was then asked to comment on the future of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Are we closer to the creation of two states or will we return to a state of war? “Any reasonable person would tell you that this is a very difficult time to discuss a viable solution for the Palestinian and this situation certainly does not fill us with optimism. We hope that this humanitarian pause will lead to something more lasting, possibly leading to a ceasefire. After that, we and the international community, taking into account the gravity of what has happened in this conflict, there will definitely be an updated understanding that we should reach a solution for the Palestinian issue”, he answered.
And he admitted that “this is not the first case of violence and it will not be the only one until we reach a viable and permanent solution to the Palestinian issue. This can only happen when there is political will and under the pressure of the international community on both sideson the part of Israel will stop this war so to start peace negotiations now. However, right now we are focusing on the immediate future to free the hostages and prisoners, to realize the seriousness of the situation and to lay the foundations for a sustainable solution.”
“We have prevented war many times”
Hamas intends to surrender its weapons and sit at the negotiating table to discuss talks on the creation of a Palestinian state, the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman was asked by the Greek journalist. “We have been working on mediation between Hamas and the Palestinian cause since 2006 and I can tell you that we are very optimistic which comes from our ability to mediate between the two times because we have managed to prevent war many times in the previous two years – even this year – where we have mediated twice and managed to reach agreements without violent clashes and clashes between the two sides” he replied.
And he added: “So we hope that when the situation allows it we will be able to convey the messages to both sides, but not just to be messengers but also to create the conditions for the discussion that will lead to peace. We believe that all people in the world whether they are called Palestinian or Israeli, our goal is for them to live in safety and prosperity and to give hope to their children. The main problem has always been the lack of hope for the Palestinians. The lack of hope for the Palestinian side, of their children who want to live in a safe and prosperous country and have a future as well as the lack of hope for a permanent sense of security on the opposite side in Israel. So it is our job as mediators as well as with the international community to create that hope for both the people of Palestine and the Israelis.”
Finally, responding to critics that Qatar caused this conflict, he emphasized that his country will continue to work for peace. “I hope that those who criticize us will see the humanitarian value but also the value of peacemaking and of being a mediator in such a conflict. We have the political will of our leadership. Our leadership is not only doing this for the benefit of our country but to make sure that our children and our children’s children will live in a safe world without the horrifying images we have seen from the Gaza Strip, which poisoned them for many generations,” he concluded.
Watch the video of the entire interview:
“We want a permanent ceasefire”
Palestinians in Gaza are calling for a permanent ceasefire, as the truce is being extended for a while longer. Ayman Harb, a father of three, held out with his family in the Shujayea neighborhood of Gaza City for more than a month, even as Israeli bombs and tanks destroyed the besieged enclave’s largest urban center. Shortly before the humanitarian ceasefire came into effect, he decided that his family had to leave. One of his sons has cerebral palsy and he needs an oxygen bottle and the Israeli soldiers threatened to shoot him if he did not throw away the oxygen.
Now, Harb is in central Gaza and all he’s asking is for the truce to turn into a permanent ceasefire so he and his family can return home. “I live in a tent on site of Al Aqsa Hospital for a week, right next to the ambulances. There are about 20 of us in a tent and I had to send my wife and two other children to stay with a relative,” he describes in Al Jazeera. He adds: “The shelling has stopped, but we need a truce that will allow us to return to our homes. Otherwise, there is no point. I’d rather go home and die there than stay here in a tent, live in shame and be forced to rely on other people for basic goods.”
Imm Shadi al-Taher, a 63-year-old mother of 10, was displaced from her home in Tall az-Zaatar in Gaza City three weeks ago. She also stayed, with 25 members of her family in a tent on the hospital grounds. “We had our pride and our dignity, but look at the situation we are in now,” he says. She says she’s relieved to no longer hear the sound of warplanes and shelling, but she can’t bear to be away from her home, which was destroyed. “I’m willing to live in a tent, but in the ruins of my house, where I don’t have to ask anyone for help. I want to go back to bury my siblings who are still under the rubble of their own damaged homes,” he says.
For Noor Saadeh, a 23-year-old mother of two who was displaced from her home in Gaza City a month ago, the truce is also not enough. “What’s the point of a truce if we can’t go back to our homes?” he wonders. “My son constantly tells me that he misses his friends at kindergarten. We want our old life back”, she declares and expresses her concern about the coming of winter.
Source: News Beast
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