The primary negotiator for Qatar stated that “intensive work was required to mediate the Israel-Hamas hostage agreement, which Israel’s cabinet accepted early on Wednesday morning.
In an exclusive interview with CNN on Wednesday, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi—who also serves as Qatar’s minister of state for international affairs—said that the agreement achieved was what “the parties want.”
Al-Khulaifi stated from Doha, “It’s a period of high escalation, military clashes, humanitarian escalation, and ground invasion. As you can imagine, our work was extremely intensive.”
He continued, “All of that made our task of securing an agreement between two parties that have zero level of trust with each other extremely difficult.”
Over the previous two weeks, Al-Khulaifi saw that the conversations would fall into “fits and starts.” He stated, for instance, that when Israel declared the start of its war with Hamas in late October, the mediators required a “period of calm.”
According to Al-Khulaifi, pressure on negotiations was also exerted by Israel’s targeted operation on Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. Qatar was required to request that the parties refrain from targeting essential humanitarian infrastructure.
He continued, “These are not going to help the mediator or anyone else come to an agreement.”
Al-Khulaifi, however, praised the sides’ ability to reach a compromise as “significant.”
He told CNN that Qatar will keep pushing for a total truce in the conflict, emphasising that the nation’s “work is not done.”
Through this historic agreement, Qatar intends to “invite the parties to think more about the current situations and come up with better agreements,” he said.
Naturally, our primary goals here are to find a long-term truce, put an end to the killing of civilians, and enhance the quality of life for Palestinians, according to Al-Khulaifi.
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