Gaza: Mediation efforts to renew ceasefire, free more hostages underway, says Qatari government  

The Qatari Prime Minister has announced that mediation moves to bring the devastating war on Gaza by Israel to a pause ongoing despite the ongoing bombardment that is “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome.

“Our efforts as the state of Qatar along with our partners are continuing. We are not going to give up,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, adding that “the continuation of the bombardment is just narrowing this window for us”.

Israel says it is waging a retaliatory war on Gaza after Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli figures, in an unprecedented attack on October 7.

The siege on the war-torn enclave has killed at least 17,700 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, many of them women and children.

Qatar was a crucial mediator in the negotiations that led to a seven-day cease-fire in which scores of Israeli captives were swapped for Palestinian inmates and humanitarian aid, which ended at the beginning of the month.

“We are going to continue, we are committed to have hostages released, but we are also committed to stop the war,” Qatar’s prime minister said.

But, he added, “we are not seeing the same willingness from both parties”.

“We are going to continue, we are committed to have hostages released, but we are also committed to stop the war,” Qatar’s prime minister said.

But, he added, “we are not seeing the same willingness from both parties”.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would continue his push for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.

Addressing the Doha Forum, he said the Security Council was “paralysed by geostrategic divisions” that were undermining solutions to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared,” he told the forum.

“Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it,” he added.