Updated 01.39 | Published 01.20
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full screen US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Archive image. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP/TT
No party should “undermine” the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, ahead of Thursday’s planned talks.
It warns the US Secretary of State and Qatar’s Prime Minister.
The talks, which are planned to be held in Doha in Qatar, are described as the last chance for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
In a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, “efforts to calm tensions in the region” and the importance of agreeing on a ceasefire were discussed, the US State Department said.
They both also stated that “no party in the region should take steps that could undermine efforts to reach an agreement”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that an Israeli negotiating delegation will attend Doha. But terrorist-branded Hamas has sent signals that it does not intend to participate – unless Israel first shows that it is “serious about negotiations”, US media reported on Tuesday.
The stakes for the talks are high. The entire Middle East has recently trembled before Iran’s revenge after Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was killed, probably by Israel, in the Iranian capital, Tehran. But according to US President Joe Biden, Iran could conceivably refrain from the feared revenge attack if a Gaza agreement is reached.
Biden, along with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, last week issued an unusual, joint call for Israel and Hamas to participate in the negotiations.