Negotiations continue for Gaza deal’s second phase

Doha, Qatar:Advisor to the Prime Minister and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Majed Mohammed Al Ansari has said that Qatar is in...

Doha, Qatar: Advisor to the Prime Minister and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari has said that Qatar is in communication with its partners to begin the second phase of peace agreement in Gaza.

“Regarding the second phase of the agreement, the State of Qatar, along with Egypt, Türkiye, and the United States, has worked since day one of the agreement to ensure the transition to the second phase through communications between the various parties. These communications are still ongoing ... they involve many obstacles while consensus has been reached on many of them, further discussion is still required to reach this stage,” he said during a weekly media briefing yesterday.

 Regarding the Rafah crossing, Al Ansari noted that Qatar has called from the day one for humanitarian aid not to be used as a political tool in any conflict anywhere in the world. “Specifically here, political blackmail through the use of humanitarian aid is something that should not be acceptable to the international community,” he said.

To a question on Yemen situation, he said, “We’ve been very clear on the Yemen issue in support of the central government in Yemen. This has been our position since the situation in Yemen started more than a decade ago, and our support for the legitimate government in our brotherly state of Yemen continues to this day.”

He added, “We have also ensured that any unilateral actions by any actor in Yemen that could undermine the unity of Yemen and the safety and security of the Yemeni people are condemned by Qatar and not supported by Qatar in any sense. And therefore, we have called for all parties not to take any unilateral action but to engage constructively in talks to solve all the underlying issues peacefully.”