As negotiations for the next stage of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan progress, US President Donald Trump thanked Qatar for its efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
As the US president’s plane made a stop in the Gulf nation on its way to a summit in Malaysia on Saturday, Trump welcomed Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
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Trump and the Qatari leaders both expressed how much they have worked together, particularly recently.
“I just want to thank you for what we’ve accomplished, peace to the Middle East,” the author writes.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were in Israel this week to check on the top US allies’ compliance with the agreement and discuss the details of phase two of the US-led plan.
According to experts, the agreement’s key provisions, such as Washington’s call for Hamas to disarm and the possibility of deploying an international security force to Gaza, are still ambiguous.
According to Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabari, who was reporting from the Qatari capital Doha on Saturday evening, the first phase has not yet been completed, including the removal of all Israeli prisoners’ bodies from Gaza.
She said that has been a source of contention because Israel claims Hamas has not returned any of those bodies in the past four days.
Hasas, for its part, claimed that more time is needed to access areas that the war and the heavy bombardment on the Strip have rendered impossible.
Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes across Gaza and to obstruct unhinged humanitarian aid to Palestinians throughout the area, further straining the fragile ceasefire.
Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli forces throughout the day, according to medical sources in Gaza on Saturday.
In a car attacked by Israelis in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, which the Israeli military claimed was targeted an alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad member, at least four people also suffered injuries.
Hani Mahmoud, a journalist for Al Jazeera in Gaza City, reported that the attack “looks like a break in an already fragile ceasefire.”
Despite the fact that more work is still necessary, US officials have been attempting to convey a positive message to the media this week.
Rubio said speaking separately to reporters on Saturday that American officials would be asked for opinions on a possible UN resolution or international agreement granting permission to the multinational force in Gaza.
The US secretary of state added that he would hold a Sunday meeting with Qatari officials regarding the subject.
According to Rubio, “many of the nations that have expressed an interest in participating at some level, whether it be financially, personnel, or both, will need that [a UN resolution or international agreement] because their domestic laws demand it,”
So that’s why a whole team is engaged in that process.
The Trump administration’s message on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera’s Jabari, was that Qatar has a significant role to play as the negotiations progress.
She said, “The American president has made it clear that this ceasefire would not have been possible in the first place due to their mediating efforts.”
