Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says his country’s mediation efforts will continue despite an agreement between Israel and Hamas appearing unlikely at the moment as Israel prepares to mount an invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The talks, which involved officials from the United States and Egypt, have so far failed to produce results as Hamas and Israel have highly diverging views.
“The pattern in the last few days is not really very promising but … we will always remain optimistic and will always remain pushing,” Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the foreign minister of Qatar, playing a key mediator, said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
He added that since the scale of this proposed agreement is much larger than the one reached last year, which included a temporary ceasefire and exchange of prisoners, challenges are expected.
Al Thani also cited a lag in the “humanitarian part” of the negotiations: Hamas wants Israel to withdraw from Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave, but officials in Tel Aviv have called those “delusional demands”.
Osama Hamdan, a senior spokesperson for Hamas, told Al Jazeera: “The main point of disagreement is Netanyahu and his games. He is trying not to have any arrangements or agreements. That is clear.”
Hamdan added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had shown a “positive position” towards negotiations and “willingness” to achieve a ceasefire in a statement on Saturday that said the group wants a complete cessation of Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said a new deal “does not appear very close” while again opposing a two-state solution backed by Tel Aviv’s allies in the West, along with countries in the region.
Israel on Sunday formalised its opposition to what it called the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought the “declaratory decision” to a vote in cabinet, which unanimously approved the measure, according to a statement.
Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly meeting that the move comes after “recent talk in the international community about an attempt to unilaterally impose on Israel a Palestinian state”.
US President Joe Biden has been trying to clinch a broader deal in the Middle East, that would include Saudi Arabia and other Arab states normalising ties with Israel, as well as the creation of a pathway to a Palestinian state.
The formal Israeli statement, according to Netanyahu’s office, reflects the fact that: “Israel rejects outright international dictates regarding a permanent accord with the Palestinians. An accord, should it be reached, will only come through direct negotiations between the sides, without preconditions.”
Israeli attacks continue
Israeli leaders have remained adamant on their plans to launch a ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost area in Gaza where more than 1.4 million of the total 2.3 million population has been forcibly displaced, despite international pressure.
Israeli forces killed dozens of people on Saturday and Sunday in intense bombings and ground assaults on southern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera journalists reporting from the ground.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has put the death toll since the start of the war at about 29,000 people, with thousands still missing and many injured.
However, the US has indicated that it will veto a ceasefire resolution proposed by Algeria in the United Nations Security Council, as US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement late on Saturday.
“Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that it “may run counter” to talks between Hamas and Israel.
The US has previously used its veto to prevent the UNSC from passing resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will begin public hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine on Monday. Fifty-two states, a record number, will present their arguments.
The UN General Assembly voted to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on the occupation in December 2022.
This is separate from South Africa’s recent filing against Israel under the genocide convention.
