Qatari PM: Israeli Assault Undermining Peace Efforts, Ceasefire Talks Stalled

Doha (Quds News Network)- Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza are eroding renewed hopes for peace efforts that followed Hamas’s release of American-Israeli captive Edan Alexander last week.
“We thought that moment would open a door to end this tragedy, but the response was a more violent wave of strikes,” Sheikh Mohammed said at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “This irresponsible, aggressive behaviour undermines any potential chance for peace.”
He also provided an update on recent ceasefire negotiations in the Qatari capital, which he said have so far not led anywhere.
“There is a fundamental gap between the two parties,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “One party is looking for a partial deal that might … lead to a comprehensive deal, and the other party is looking just for a one-off deal … and to end the war and to get all the hostages out.”
“We couldn’t bridge this fundamental gap,” he added.
Hamas last week freed Edan Alexander, the last living Israeli-American held, after direct engagement with the Trump administration. Taher al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official, said the group was “awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure” on Israel “to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid”.
A new round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas began in Doha on Saturday to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement to end 19 months of Israeli bombardment on Gaza.
The ceasefire talks come as the Israeli military announced on Sunday that it has launched a large-scale ground invasion across Gaza, supported by intense aerial bombardments that have caused widespread civilian casualties in recent days, as part of its “Operation Gideon’s Chariots.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the new assault is aimed at defeating Hamas and Israeli forces won’t “enter and then exit” Gaza, suggesting an indefinite military occupation.
Under the plan, Netanyahu has also said Gaza’s population “will be moved.”
Unnamed Israeli officials told news agencies the plan includes the “conquest” of the entire Gaza Strip.
The Israeli plan also envisions the establishment of a new “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza that will serve as a base for aid, which would no longer be overseen by independent humanitarian organisations.