The United States and Qatar on Thursday announced a resumption of negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said mediators were exploring new options after months of failing to seal a US-led plan.
Blinken said negotiators would resume talks "in the coming days" on ways to end the year-long Gaza war and free hostages seized in the October 7 attack.
With less than two weeks before US elections, Blinken is paying his eleventh trip to the region since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. The militant group's leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by the Israeli army on October 16.
"We talked about options to capitalize on this moment and next steps to move the process forward," Blinken said, after talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.
He said that the two partners were seeking a plan "so that Israel can withdraw, so that Hamas cannot reconstitute, and so that the Palestinian people can rebuild their lives and rebuild their futures".
"This is a moment to work to end this war, to make sure all the hostages are home, and to build a better future for people in Gaza," he said.
The Qatari Prime Minister said Israeli and US delegations would meet in Doha on the ceasefire. Blinken declined to give further details on the talks.
President Joe Biden on May 31 laid out a plan that would temporarily halt fighting and seek freedom for hostages still held by militants in Gaza.
But talks bogged down, with a major sticking-point being Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on an Israeli troop presence on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Blinken, on the third stop of a tour that took him to Israel and Saudi Arabia, repeated his assertion that Sinwar was the main impediment and that his death offers an opportunity.
US officials had described Sinwar as intransigent in negotiations brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt on a ceasefire that would also see the release of hostages from Gaza.
Sheikh Mohammed said there was so far "no clarity what will be the way forward" from Hamas but that Qatari mediators had "re-engaged" with the group since Sinwar's death.
"There has been an engagement with the representatives from the political office of Hamas in Doha. We had some meetings with them in the last couple of days," he said, adding that Egypt has "ongoing" discussions with the group.
Blinken is also looking for greater clarity on a plan for reconstruction and post-war governance of Gaza, seeing it as a vital component of efforts to end the war.
He announced another $135 million of aid to the Palestinians, bringing the total since the start of the war to some $1.2 billion.
With AFP
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