It was a high-stakes trip to Washington D.C. for Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Jassim Abdulrahman bin Al Thani this week. His country is trying to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas that would see an end to fighting, at least temporarily.
Any agreement would bring the release of at least some of the 136 remaining hostages taken from Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. It would also bring some respite to trapped civilians in Gaza living under bombardment and get badly needed aid to a man-made humanitarian disaster zone.
