Mediator Qatar said Tuesday that discussions between Hamas and Israel on a Gaza truce and captive release are still ongoing, despite the warring parties shifting blame for the lack of progress.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the talks were “ongoing,” and there has been “no development that would lead to the conclusion that one of the teams has pulled out of the negotiations.”
Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations to negotiate a truce in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian inmates imprisoned in Israeli jails.
Since the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding a “immediate ceasefire” on Monday, Hamas and Israel have traded blame for their failure to reach an agreement.
According to Hamas, Netanyahu and his government are “entirely responsible for the failure of negotiation efforts and for preventing an agreement from being reached up until now”.
Netanyahu’s staff responded to X, claiming that Hamas was “not interested in continuing negotiations” since the Security Council resolution had encouraged them.
Ansari told a Doha press conference that Qatar welcomed the UN resolution, which he said had no direct impact on the talks.
According to a source briefed on the talks, “officials from Israel’s Mossad spy agency remain in Doha for negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt on a Gaza truce and hostage releases”.
According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the conversations, “only part of the Mossad team was returning to Israel for consultations on developments in the talks”.
stated that “regardless of the comings and goings of these teams, the meetings are still ongoing here in Doha and I can confirm that part of the negotiating teams are still here in Doha conducting negotiations as we speak.”
The conflict began when Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive on Israel, killing approximately 1,160 people, most of whom were civilians, according to an AFP assessment of Israeli official data.
Israel’s military has launched a retaliatory offensive against Hamas, killing 32,414 people in Gaza, the majority of them are women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Palestinian militants kidnapped over 250 Israeli and foreign prisoners during the October 7 raid on Israel, although scores were freed after a week-long truce in November.
Israel claims that approximately 130 people remain in Gaza, including 33 people who are presumed dead: eight troops and 25 civilians.