Mediator Qatar briefs Trump envoy on Gaza truce talks

Mediator Qatar said it briefed US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday about Gaza ceasefire talks it has been brokering alongside Egypt and the United States.

In their meeting in Doha, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani discussed with Witkoff “the latest developments in the region, especially the efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”, the Qatari foreign ministry said.

Earlier this month, the mediators launched a new push to end the Gaza war and secure the release of dozens of Israeli hostages still held captive in the Palestinian territory.

Diplomatic sources have indicated mounting international pressure on Hamas and Israel to strike a deal in their indirect negotiations.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that there had been “real progress” in the talks.

Trump has warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free the remaining captives before his inauguration on January 20.

But several analysts believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers a deal to be finalised under Trump’s presidency rather than in the final days of Joe Biden’s administration.

“I cannot foresee significant progress until President Trump assumes office,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israeli think tank the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told AFP earlier this week. (BSS/AFP)