Qatar launches new peace initiatives to find out a solution to end Gaza war

Abu Dhabi, Jan 24: Qatar, the chief negotiator in the Israel-Hamas war, has said it is getting replies from both Israel and the Hamas as it engages in serious discussions with them to find a new solution to end the war that includes a two-state formula. The war has so far killed over 20,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Israeli soldiers in a span of over 100 days.
Qatar said it’s engaged in “serious discussions” with Israel and Hamas and is receiving “constant replies” from both sides. But statements made by Israeli officials “lead to a harder mediation process”, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, said in a news conference on Tuesday.
“Obviously, when one side says they don’t accept the two state-solution and that they won’t stop this war eventually… it leads to a harder mediation process,” Al-Ansari pointed out.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected global calls, including from the US, for Palestinian sovereignty following talks with US President Joe Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.
Communication breakdown and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza has impacted the talks from yielding results, media reports said. But mediation is in full swing with Qatar exchanging ideas between both sides, Al-Ansari said.
“Our negotiators are working around the clock to exchange these ideas, a lot of these media reports are either missing elements or completely false,” he said in response to news reports that Israel offered a two-month ceasefire to Hamas as part of a prospective hostage deal.
Meanwhile, the situation around the Khan Younis hospitals is deteriorating amid intense shelling, the United Nations said. The UN says that the situation at hospitals in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza has deteriorated as Israeli military operations in the area have expanded, CNN reported from Gaza.
“Reportedly, Israeli forces struck the vicinity of Al-Amal hospital and the ambulance headquarters, as intense fighting continued in the area, including dozens of casualties,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, adding that it estimated that “13,000 displaced people who have taken shelter in Al Amal Hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society headquarters were unable to leave”.
OCHA cited humanitarian partners as saying that people in the vicinity and in the Al Kheir area east of Al Mawasi had lost access to the health facility, reports said. (IANS)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that it had surrounded Khan Younis and instructed civilians to leave several districts and move towards the coast, which it described was “safer”. (IANS)