Qatar urges Israel, Hamas to do more to broker ceasefire

Tel Aviv, April 28

A senior Qatari official has urged Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a cease-fire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.

Qatar, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Doha, has been a key intermediary and was instrumental, along with the US and Egypt, in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages. But in a sign of frustration, Qatar this month said it was reassessing its mediator role.

An Israeli delegation is expected in Egypt in the coming days to discuss the latest proposals in negotiations, and senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a message to The Associated Press that a delegation from the militant group will also head to Cairo for talks. He did not elaborate, but Egypt’s state-owned al-Qahera TV said the delegation would arrive on Monday.

The interviews with Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari by liberal daily Haaretz and Israeli public broadcaster Kan were published and aired Saturday evening. They came as Israel promises to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there. — AP

Hamas releases video of hostages

• Hamas on Saturday released a video of two hostages who were seen pleading Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate their release
• In the video, American-Israeli Keith Siege urges Netanyahu to negotiate with Hamas for a hostage release deal
• This is the first video released of Siegel after he was held hostage by Hamas along with his wife from their residence in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7