Lead Qatari negotiator says “intensive” work led to agreement of Israel-Hamas deal
From CNN’s Becky Anderson and Zeena Saifi in Doha and Niamh Kennedy in London
Qatar’s lead negotiator said that “intensive” work was needed to broker the Israel-Hamas hostage deal, which was approved by Israel’s cabinet in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, who is also the Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs, told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an exclusive interview Wednesday that the deal reached was what “the parties want.”
“Our work was extremely intensive as you can imagine; it’s a period of high escalation, military clashes, humanitarian escalation, ground invasion,” Al-Khulaifi said from Doha.
““All of that made our task extremely difficult to secure an agreement between two parties that have zero level of trust with each other,” he added. “
During the past few weeks, Al-Khulaifi observed the talks go into “fits and starts.” For example, he said that mediators needed a “period of calm” when Israel announced the second phase its war with Hamas in late October.
Israel launching a “targeted operation” on Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City also put pressure on negotiations, Al-Khulaifi said, adding that Qatar had to ask the parties not to “target vital humanitarian infrastructures.”
“These are not going to help anyone reach an agreement and definitely is not going to help the mediator,” he added.
But Al-Khulaifi hailed it “significant” that the parties managed to secure a deal.
He stressed that Qatar’s “work is not done,” telling CNN that the country will continue to push for a complete ceasefire in the war.
He said Qatar hopes that the breakthrough deal will “invite the parties to think more about the current situations and come up with better agreements.”
“Our, of course, main objective here is really to seek a permanent ceasefire and stopping the bloodshed of the people and improving the lives of the Palestinian people,” Al-Khulaifi said.
