The prime minister of Qatar said earlier this week that he has optimism that a deal would soon be reached between Israel and Hamas to release hostages, pause fighting and increase the deliveries of humanitarian aid.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who serves as both the prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, said Tuesday that Hamas had responded to him just a few hours earlier. Some of that response included comments about what a general framework for a proposed agreement might be.
He also said that the response, overall, was positive.
Speaking at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sheikh Mohammed said:
“We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
He further said that the Hamas response was promising, and they’re hoping a final deal will come together “very soon.”
Blinken was in the Middle East as part of his efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages that the terrorist organization Hamas is still holding. He’s also trying to find a peaceful solution to the war, which just entered its fifth month.
The top U.S. official said that America is studying the proposal from Hamas “intensely,” and it’s something he’ll discuss with Israel when he was set to visit the country Wednesday.
Hamas is still holding more than 100 hostages from Israel in Gaza — all of whom they took as part of their surprise attack in Israel on October 7.
The terrorist organization has recently called for a full ceasefire in the all-out assault Israel has conducted in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel to release all Palestinians that they’re holding in jail.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has continually rejected all calls for an end to the Israeli onslaught, until they’re able to achieve “total victory,” which includes completely eradicating Hamas.
A lot of leaders around the world have also called for a ceasefire, though President Joe Biden has for the most part withheld pressuring Israel from doing so to this point.
Instead, the president has tried to focus efforts on getting Israel to pause its military operations, prioritizing the release of hostages so that humanitarian assistance could be delivered.
At the Tuesday joint press conference, Blinken said:
“The most effective path forward right now to get an extended period of calm and to work toward an end to the conflict is through an agreement on the hostages and that is what we’re intensely focused on with our partners Qatar, Egypt and working with Israel.
“Now that we have the response from Hamas to the proposal that was put on the table about a week or so ago, we’re going to be intensely focused on that.”
Biden himself commented on the negotiations this week from the White House, saying the response from Hamas was “a little over the top.”
He did say, though, that there’s “some movement,” with negotiations continuing.
