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Qatar’s Prime Minister said this on Saturday Gaza The ceasefire has reached a “critical moment” as its first phase ends with only a remnant of Israel Militants are still holding hostages in Gaza.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said this at an international conference Qatari Capital That international mediators, led by the US, are working to “force progress” to a second phase to strengthen the agreement.
“What we just did is make a pause,” he explained. Doha stage. “We cannot consider this a ceasefire yet.”
“The ceasefire cannot be completed until there is a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, there is no stability in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the situation today,” he said.
While the ceasefire halted heavy fighting of the two-year war, Gaza health officials say more than 360 Palestinians Several people have been killed in Israeli firing since the ceasefire came into effect in October.
In new violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, Shifa hospital said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. But the Israeli military says it has carried out several attacks on Palestinians crossing the ceasefire line into Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza.
second phase has not started
The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan came into effect from October 10. The fighting stopped and dozens of hostages held in Gaza were replaced by hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israel last week sent a delegation to Egypt to negotiate the return of the remains of the last hostage.
The next phase, which includes the deployment of an international security force to Gaza, the formation of a new technocratic government for the territory, the disarmament of Hamas, and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, has not yet begun.
Arab and Western officials told The Associated Press on Friday that an international body overseeing the ceasefire, to be led by Trump himself, is expected to be appointed by the end of the year. In the long term, the plan also calls for a possible “pathway” to Palestinian independence.
Sheikh Mohammed said the upcoming phase should also be “temporary” and that peace in the region could only be achieved with the establishment of a Palestinian state – which Israel’s hardline government opposes.
“If we are addressing what happened in Gaza, the devastation that has occurred over the last two years, it is not enough,” he said. “There is a root to this conflict. And this conflict is not just about Gaza.”
He added, “This is about Gaza. This is about the West Bank. This is about the Palestinians’ rights to their own state. We are hoping that we can work together with the US administration to achieve this vision at the end of the day.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there is a “big question” over the formation of an international protection force for Gaza. Speaking at the same conference, he said it was unclear which countries would join the force, what the command structure would look like and what its “first mission” would be.
Turkey is one of the “guarantors” of the ceasefire, but Israel, which has poor relations with the Ankara government, has rejected any Turkish participation in the force.
“There are thousands of details, questions,” Fidan said. “I think once we deploy the ISF, the rest will follow.”
More than 70,000 people died
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants entered Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage. Israel retaliated, killing more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says about half of the dead were women and children. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas government and its numbers are considered credible by the United Nations and other international bodies.
Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
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Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war