– Our main focus and hope right now is to agree on a sustainable ceasefire that will lead to further negotiations and finally end this war, said spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed Al Ansari today. The small state of Qatar has played a key role in the four-day ceasefire and the release of hostages from Israel and Hamas. – It is not so easy to say precisely what they are doing, but the central role is that they have kept an open channel to Hamas, says Mari Norbakk, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Christian Michelsen Institute. Other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, have cut ties with Hamas, but the small country talks to everyone. – It is precisely for them to participate in such processes. They convert economic strength into geopolitical position. Qatar has also delivered emergency aid to Gaza for several years, says Norbakk. Mohammad Turabi gets a hug from a friend after his release. He was released as a result of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news On Monday, the ceasefire was extended by two days. It therefore expires on Wednesday. Work is now underway to extend the agreement. Qatar believes the ball is in Hamas’s half of the court. – As part of the agreement, we can extend the ceasefire as long as Hamas can guarantee to release at least ten more hostages, said spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed Al Ansari yesterday. Spy chiefs in Qatar Intelligence chiefs from Egypt, the US and Israel are now in Qatar to find out how to get the rest of the Israeli citizens out. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the authorities in Israel are beginning to lose patience with Hamas. Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani Photo: AFP They have set a deadline of Sunday, and believe that the war will resume after that. Shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Qatar contacted the White House. The oil state had sensitive information about the Israeli hostages, and an offer to put an agreement in place. Thus began six weeks of intense negotiations through a top-secret working group with a small number of people. The central actors: Israel, Hamas, the United States, Qatar and Egypt. It has been Qatar in particular that has been at the forefront of returning the hostages. – This is what we can do that no one else can do, and this is us when we use all our abilities, said spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Majed Al-Ansari. This is today’s agreement 50 Israeli hostages are released. 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel will be released. Emergency aid, food and fuel are allowed to enter Gaza Israel promises to stop drone surveillance of southern Gaza, among other things so that Hamas can retrieve the hostages without revealing their hiding places. So far in the ceasefire, 60 Israelis have been released, in addition to 21 hostages from other countries. 180 Palestinian women and teenagers have also been released from Israeli prisons, the vast majority of teenagers accused of throwing stones at Israeli forces. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has specified that their warfare in Gaza will continue after the ceasefire. Diplomatic line dance Qatar has had a unique position in the war between Israel and Hamas. The country has close ties to both. Qatar has kept Hamas alive, both politically and financially. Every month, the country has transported NOK 300 million in suitcases via Israel to the Gaza Strip, to finance salaries for public employees. For the past ten years, the top management of Hamas has also been resident in Qatar. At the same time, Qatar houses one of the largest US military bases, and has a generally good relationship with the West and the US. Qatar was the first of the Gulf countries to establish a relationship with Israel, although relations deteriorated after 2009. Today, they have a pragmatic approach to each other, with cooperation on Gaza. In this way, Qatar has maintained warm relations with Western powers, while maintaining contact with groups Western countries cannot speak to directly. In recent years, Qatar has also negotiated several peace agreements. Like between bitter enemies in Sudan in 2011. They also made the USA and the Taliban bury the hatchet in Afghanistan after 20 years of war. This is how Qatar has become a political and diplomatic giant on the world stage.
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This is how Qatar works behind the scenes for a new ceasefire – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
