Qatar urges Israel, Hamas to seize 'window of opportunity' for Gaza truce

DOHA, Qatar: Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week’s ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.

Israel and Iran on Tuesday agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Qatar just hours after the Islamic republic launched a salvo of missiles towards the wealthy Gulf state, targeting the American military base hosted there.

The unprecedented attack on Qatari soil followed Washington’s intervention into a days-long war between Israel and Iran which saw US warplanes strike Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting promises of retaliation from Tehran.

In an interview with AFP on Friday, Ansari said Doha — with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo — was now “trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks over Gaza”.

“If we don’t utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” the spokesman, who is also an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister, said.

US President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week.

Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides, but that Qatar was “heavily involved in talking to every side separately”.

‘The right pressure’

A two-month truce, which was agreed as Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards.

“We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish,” Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was “not a far-fetched idea” that pressure from Washington would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza.

“We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table,” Ansari said.

There were no casualties on Monday when Iran targeted Al Udeid, the Middle East’s biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command.

Ansari said that as leaders were weighing their response to the attack, a call came from the US president to Qatar’s emir, saying “there is a possibility for regional stability… and that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire”.

“Qatar could have taken the decision to escalate,” Ansari said. “But because there was a chance for peace… we opted for that,” he said.