Trump thanks Qatar for mediation efforts as talks on Gaza plan continue

 

United States President Donald Trump has thanked Qatar for its efforts in securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israeli forces continued attacks on the Palestinian territory, killing at least one person and wounding four others.

 Trump made the comments on Saturday as he welcomed Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on board Air Force One on Saturday, as the US president’s plane stopped to refuel in the Gulf country on its way to a summit in Malaysia.

Trump, who was speaking with the leaders of Qatar, said, "We've done a lot together, especially in the last year." "What we've done is incredible—bringing peace to the Middle East—and they were a very big part of it, so I just want to thank you," she said. The Qatari Emir, on the other hand, wrote in a post on X that he was pleased to meet Trump and that their meeting was a "good opportunity to discuss peace plans in the Middle East, follow up on efforts to solidify the agreement to end the war in Gaza, and explore prospects for strategic cooperation between our two friendly nations." He also expressed his satisfaction at meeting Trump. The meeting comes after several senior Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visited Israel this week to ensure the US ally abides by the deal, and to discuss the details of phase two of the Washington-led plan.

 Experts say several elements of the agreement, including Washington’s demand that Hamas disarm and the prospect of deploying an international security force to Gaza, remain unclear.

After meeting with the Qatari emir, Trump told reporters that the truce would continue and that, if not, "Hamas would not be difficult to take care of."

Trump also suggested that the so-called "international stabilisation force" for Gaza might include troops from Qatar and other nations. “We have 59 countries.  We have a lot of countries that are signed on,” he said.  “This should be an enduring peace.”

 The security force for Gaza could be in place “pretty quickly”, he added.  "They are actually selecting leaders at this very moment." According to a readout of the talks that was shared by the Qatar News Agency on Air Force One, the Qatari government said that the leaders discussed a variety of topics, including efforts to "support peace in the region, consolidate the agreement to end the war in Gaza, and ensure the parties' implementation of all its provisions." Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Doha, Qatar, for Al Jazeera, said that Israel and the United States are putting pressure on Hamas to release the bodies of all remaining Israelis who were taken hostage during the attacks on October 7, 2023. “That has been a point of contention, [with] Israel saying that Hamas has not in the past four days returned any of those bodies,” she said.

 "Hamas, for its part, has said it needs more time to get into areas that have been out of reach due to the war and the heavy bombardment of the Strip," The fragile ceasefire is being further strained by Israel's ongoing deadly strikes throughout Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid deliveries to Palestinians. Israeli forces killed at least one person and wounded four others in an attack on a vehicle in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, with the Israeli military claiming it was targeting a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who had been planning to attack Israeli troops.

 Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, described the attack as a “breach of an already fragile ceasefire”.

This is not the first time that the ceasefire has been broken. Over the past two weeks, there has been 88 violations involving the killing of displaced families trying to get back to their homes behind what the Israeli military describes as the ‘yellow line’ – an imaginary line that seeks to redraw the map of Gaza and which eats up the majority of the territory’s agricultural land,” Mahmoud said.

 Despite the Israeli violations, US officials have sought to project a positive message, telling reporters this week that the deal was progressing well despite more work needing to be done.

Speaking to reporters separately on Saturday, Rubio said that American officials would get input on a possible United Nations resolution or international agreement to authorise the multinational force in Gaza.

 The US Secretary went on to say that he would talk about the issue on Sunday in Qatar. “Many of the countries that have expressed an interest in participating at some level – whether it be monetary or personnel or both – are going to need that [a UN resolution or international agreement], because their domestic laws require it,” Rubio said.

 Therefore, the entire team is working on the outline. According to Al Jazeera’s Jabbari in Doha, the message from the Trump administration on Saturday was that Qatar has a key role to play as the negotiations progress.

 “The United States president has highlighted that, without their mediating efforts, this ceasefire would not have been possible in the first place,” she said.

 “And of course, moving forward, to advance from one stage to the next, it has to be with the input and consultation of the Qataris.”