©Reuters. File photo: Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attends a press conference in Doha, Qatar, November 26, 2016. The photo was taken on November 26, 2016.Reuters/Naseem Zeitoon/File photo
MUNICH (Reuters) – Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Saturday that the pattern of negotiations towards a framework for a ceasefire agreement on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip had changed in recent days. It's not very promising.”
“The pattern of the last few days is not very encouraging, but as we always repeat, we remain optimistic and we will always keep moving forward,” Sheikh Mohammed told the Munich Security Conference.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the foreign minister, said he could not go into details of the negotiations, but as with past agreements, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the number of Palestinians to be released in exchange for hostages held by Hamas will be affected. He said there were two factors: numbers. .
“With this agreement, we believe we are talking on a larger scale, but we still see some difficulties in the humanitarian part of this negotiation,” he said.
He added that he believed that progress in negotiations on the humanitarian elements of any deal would eventually resolve obstacles to the number of people released.
Talks involving officials from Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the United States have so far failed to reach an agreement on a cessation of fighting.
