DOHA (AFP) – Qatar’s chief negotiator voiced frustration over talks for a truce in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.
“We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day,” Mohammed Al-Khulaifi said.
Qatar, with the United States (US) and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas which came into force on January 19 and largely halted over a year of war triggered by Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps.
Hamas has insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase to the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework.
Israel, which had called for an extension to the opening phase, resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 after earlier halting the entry of aid.
Late on Thursday, Hamas signalled the group would not accept Israel’s newest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the Palestinian group, the militant group said. “We’ve been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two sides,” the Qatari minister of state said.
“And we will remain committed to this, in spite of the difficulties,” he added.
During the long mediation process, Qatar has been the target of direct criticism from Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At least two of Netanyahu’s aides are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government to promote Doha’s interests in Israel, prompting an Israeli criminal probe. Qatar has dismissed the attacks as a “smear campaign”.
Earlier in March, an investigation by Israel’s domestic security agency attributed funds from the Gulf state to an increase in Hamas’ military strength before the October 7 attack.
Qatar has rebuffed the accusation as “false”.
“We’ve been receiving those types of criticism and negative comments since the early times of our involvement,” Al-Khulaifi said.
“Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise,” he added.
Qatar, with Al-Khulaifi as its lead negotiator, has emerged as a facilitator in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has flared in recent months, with the armed M23 group making a series of rapid gains in the country’s resource-rich east.
In early March, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, who is accused of backing the M23, held surprise meetings in Doha and later expressed their support for a ceasefire.
“This meeting happened to really find a pathway towards de-escalation and more of an agreement on an implementation mechanism,” Al-Khulaifi said. “We’ve managed to create this flexible line of communication between the two sides, and we’re hoping there are more successes than you can hear within the next days,” the Qatari minister added.
Al-Khulaifi said following the meetings between the leaders that Qatar had convinced the M23, Rwanda and the DRC to “de-escalate” near the strategic mining hub of Walikale.
This allowed “a process of withdrawing from Walikale to the eastern sides, to Goma. That movement by itself was, in our view, a positive development,” he added, referring to the M23-held capital of DRC’s North Kivu Province.
Al-Khulaifi said the US had been “a reliable partner” in DRC and he hoped to discuss the conflict with the US envoy for Africa, Massad Boulos, in Washington in the coming days.
In the US, Khulaifi said he would also raise the issue of ongoing sanctions on Syria following the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad.
Along with Qatari funding for gas supplies to Syria, Qatar is discussing with regional partners an increase in public sector salaries in the country.
“We’re discussing it very closely with our US colleagues to see, how can we move on within this project,” Al-Khulaifi said.
