According to the mediator Qatar, the talks to halt the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have not been progressing.
Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he still feels hopeful, but he also mentioned that time is running out for us.
The Prime Minister of Israel wants to continue with plans to invade Rafah, even though many other countries are telling him not to.
Hamas says Israel is to blame for not making progress on reaching a ceasefire agreement.
High-ranking officials from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar are meeting in Cairo to try to stop the fighting.
Sheik Mohammed said that the recent pattern has not been very encouraging. However, he always stays positive and determined to keep pushing forward. He spoke at a meeting of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference.
“I think we are talking about a big agreement, and we still have some problems with the humanitarian part of these negotiations,” he said.
But he said the truce should not depend on making a deal to free the hostages held by Hamas.
“We have been in a difficult situation where many countries have misused the idea that a ceasefire will only happen if a hostage deal is made,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he sent people to talk with Hamas after US President Joe Biden asked him to. But they didn’t go back for more talks because Hamas’s requests were unrealistic.
The group wants some things to happen, like trading hostages for Palestinian prisoners, Israel’s soldiers leaving completely, and for the war to stop after a 135-day break in fighting, divided into three parts.
Israel started fighting back with its military because a group called Hamas attacked and hurt a lot of people and took hostages in a surprise attack on October 7th.
More than 28,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s attack, according to the health ministry run by Hamas.
MrNetanyahu said in Jerusalem on Saturday that he wants to defeat Hamas and his forces will keep fighting until Israel wins completely.
He said that people who don’t want to take military action in Rafah are basically telling the country to give up in the war, and he also said that his soldiers would go into Rafah even if a deal to release hostages was made.
At the beginning of the war, Israel told Palestinians to go to Rafah for safety while the Israeli military attacked the cities in the north.
This week, Israeli officials said they want people to move to a “humanitarian zone” called al-Mawasi, which is a small area along the coast where farming is the main activity.
President Biden told Israel not to attack Rafah unless they have a plan to protect civilians.
MrNetanyahu is under pressure in his own country to bring back the hostages still in Gaza.
Many people got together in Tel Aviv to ask for elections to happen sooner, even though they are not supposed to happen until 2026. Israel’s leader said no to his party’s request for an election right after the conflict with Gaza. He thinks it would cause too much disagreement.
Meanwhile, Hamas said Israel is not helping to make a ceasefire happen. They also said they might stop helping unless they get aid for the north of Gaza. Aid groups are worried because there isn’t enough food, water or medicine in the area.
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