U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that negotiators will meet in the coming days to work on reaching a truce in Gaza as he again urged Israel and Hamas to strike a deal.
“We talked about options to capitalize on this moment and next steps to move the process forward, and I anticipate that our negotiators will be getting together in the coming days,” Blinken told reporters after talks with key mediator Qatar.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani
(Photo: Nathan Howard/ AP)
Blinken’s visit to Doha follows earlier talks with leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia. It marks his 11th visit to the region since the start of the war in Gaza after Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack last year.
Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said American and Israeli teams would travel to Qatar, without providing a specific timeline.
“A negotiating team from the United States will visit Doha alongside the negotiating team from the Israeli side to discuss the means by which a breakthrough can be achieved,” he said.
Asked if Qatar had communicated with Hamas following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the prime minister said: “We re-engaged with them. There has been an engagement with the representatives from the political office in Doha.”
“We had some meetings with them in the last couple of days. I believe that until now, there is no clarity what will be the way forward.”
Qatar, along with the U.S. and Egypt, has been leading mediation efforts between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, aiming to secure a Gaza truce and facilitate a hostage and prisoner exchange.
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