Middle East latest: Blinken in Doha to discuss Gaza cease-fire with Qatari officials
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Doha is set to meet with Qatari officials who have been key mediators for Hamas, as America struggles to break the logjam of cease-fire negotiations between Israel and the militant group.
Blinken, who is on his 11th trip to the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, said the talks would look at the willingness of the militant group to negotiate on the conflict.
“What we really have to determine is whether Hamas is prepared to engage,” Blinken said .
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Hamas’s political representatives have not so far signalled a softer stance.
“There is no change in our position,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese broadcaster seen as closely aligned with Iran and its allies.
Hamdan said Hamas delegates heard from mediators in Cairo about the potential to revive cease-fire negotiations but reiterated that the group still insists on an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, as well as its complete withdrawal from the territory.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said the head of the Mossad, the country’s spy agency, would travel to Qatar on Sunday to meet with CIA director Bill Burns and the Qatari prime minister.
The US hoped to revive the negotiations after Israeli forces killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza last week, but neither side has shown signs of moderating its demands from months of negotiations that sputtered to a halt over the summer.
Blinken also announced an additional $US135 million ($200m) in US aid to the Palestinians, while again urging Israel to allow more assistance to enter the territory.
Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinian officials said an Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering killed at least 17 people on Thursday, mostly women and children.
An additional 42 people were wounded in the strike in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Among the dead were seven children as young as 11 months, as well as three women. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants inside the school, without providing evidence.
A driver for the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza was killed when a UN-marked vehicle was hit by Israeli forces, the United Nations said Thursday.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that the Israeli fire also killed the driver’s brother, and left three passers-by with minor injuries.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon claimed the UNRWA driver was a Hamas commander who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel.
UNRWA said the driver’s name was on a list of 100 staff members Israel claimed were members of Hamas’ military wing that was sent to the agency in July. UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini at that time urged Israel to provide more information so he could take action. But but UNRWA said Thursday that Lazzarini had not yet received a response.
The attack on the UNRWA pickup vehicle in central Deir Al-Balah was the latest against UN staff. More than 230 UN employees in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive in the territory since the Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks that sparked the war in Gaza and the greater Middle East.
