Qatar: Latest ceasefire talks in Gaza not very promising

(Patria) - Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have "not been very promising" in recent days, Doha, which is emerging as a mediator, announced.

Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he remained optimistic but added that "time is not on our side," the BBC reported.

This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would proceed with plans to invade Rafah, despite growing international pressure.

Hamas has blamed Israel for the lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire agreement.
Talks are underway in Cairo as senior officials from the United States, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar meet to try to mediate a pause in the fighting.

"The pattern in the last few days has not been very promising, but as I always repeat, we will always remain optimistic and we will always continue to push," Sheikh Mohammed said, speaking at a meeting of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference.

"I believe that in this agreement we are talking about a larger scope and we still see some
difficulties in the humanitarian part of these negotiations," he added.

However, he said that a ceasefire should not depend on an agreement to release hostages held by Hamas.

"This is a dilemma we have been in, and unfortunately, it has been misused by many countries - that to achieve a ceasefire, the condition is that we have a hostage deal," he said.