By Yaqout Dandashi
ISTANBUL (AA) – Qatar said Tuesday that mediation efforts for reaching a cease-fire and hostage swap deal between Israel and Hamas were still ongoing.
“We are engaged in serious negotiations and discussions between the two sides of the crisis in Gaza,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a press conference in Doha.
“Mediation efforts between the Palestinians and Israel are still ongoing and will not stop, regardless of the circumstances on the ground,” he added.
The spokesman accused some parties of seeking to tarnish Qatar’s image, but without specifying.
“This will not deter us from our role as long as there is an opportunity to achieve peace,” he added.
His statements came hours after at least 24 Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in the southern Gaza Strip.
“The war will do nothing but more losses,” al-Ansari said, adding that Doha is holding contacts with the US to halt the Israeli war and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,490 Palestinians and injuring 63,354. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar