In response to accusations that Qatar supports Hamas, Al Ansari pointed out the coordination of funding with Israel for aid programs in Gaza.

There is currently optimism in the ongoing negotiations, with progress made in recent weeks, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said, adding that a draft has been circulated, and Hamas has acknowledged receiving it, marking a significant shift from the situation a couple of weeks ago.

“We are seeing a draft being circulated, as you saw today, Hamas announcing that they have received the draft and are discussing it. And that is a point that we were very far from a couple of weeks back,” he told PBS.

Al Ansari said this development indicates a general understanding of the next phase of the ceasefire, offering hope for a “sustainable pause” in the near future.

“Now we have a general understanding of what the next phase of the pause will be and how that will play out,” he said.

However, Hamas insists on a permanent ceasefire as part of any deal. Al Ansari acknowledged this concern but stressed the statements made during negotiations are often part of a broader negotiation pattern.

“We have grown to understand the patterns of the negotiations that go through. Obviously, on both sides, you will hear a lot of statements. You will hear grand positions over a lot of issues. The important thing is that the mediation in its entirety has always been key to the process itself,” Al Ansari noted.

“So we are listening to what we are getting from both sides. We believe that the language we have right now builds upon the proposals that came from both sides during the past couple of months.”

Meanwhile, the United States said it is preparing to respond following a drone attack that resulted in the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan.

U.S. President Joe Biden quickly pointed the finger at Iran and accused it of funding and arming the groups that carried out the attack but stopped short of declaring Tehran a direct target.

The Pentagon acknowledged on Monday that it has no direct evidence linking Iran to the drone attack near Jordan’s border with Syria on Sunday, despite blaming “Iran-backed militant groups” for the incident.

The Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday, “We know that Iran funds these groups” but admitted that Washington does not have any specific evidence that Tehran was behind Sunday’s attack.

“We’re doing an intelligence assessment,” Singh said. “We just know that Iran funds these groups […] but I don’t have more to share on that.”

Iran has denied involvement in the drone attack.

Addressing the broader regional context, Al Ansari responded to comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed the escalating situation in Jordan.

He stressed the importance of de-escalation in the region, cautioning against actions that could lead to open war. Al Ansari acknowledged the necessity for the U.S. to re-establish deterrence but urged a measured response.

“I can tell you that this attack came as — and we all understand how dangerous it is and how problematic it is,” Al Ansari said. “We can’t take this lightly, obviously, but we have to understand also the bigger picture here.

“All of this is a byproduct of what is happening right now in Gaza, this region, the Middle East. We — it’s a cliche to say that the Middle East is the capital of all crises in the world, but right now we are at a situation where the people of the region can’t take any more refugee crisis, can’t take any more security challenges, can’t take any more wars,” Al Ansari noted.

“We fully understand, of course, that the United States has to reestablish the deterrence in the region,” he said.

“But we also are talking to our partners in the administration, our partners around the world the need to — for any response to be measured and for us to be able to talk about this and to get the messages across on all sides.”

Talking about the importance of a well-thought-out response, Al Ansari said: “The important thing here is for a measure of response and not to antagonise the — all the sides in the region for open war.

“While I fully understand that there is a lot of emotion also linked to this, we have to understand that, when this crisis started in Gaza, this is when this escalation started,” he added.

“And unless we diffuse the original crisis here, unless we diffuse the war on Gaza, a lot of escalations will utilize that in the region, a lot of proxies will utilize that in the region to conduct such attacks.”

In response to accusations that Qatar supports Hamas, Al Ansari pointed out the coordination of funding with Israel for aid programs in Gaza.

“If you are going to accuse Qatar of supporting Hamas with the funding that was done through aid, then the same accusation would go to Israel itself, because all the funding that went into aid into Gaza was done in complete coordination with Israel,” he said.

“The money went through Israeli banks to make sure that we have enough calm in Gaza that we can work on mediation.”

Israeli media had reported leaked recordings from a meeting between Netanyahu and the families of captives in Tel Aviv last week, where he accused Qatar’s mediation between Hamas and Israel of being “problematic.”

Netanyahu had also accused Qatar of “funding Hamas” – a claim that the Gulf country has repeatedly denied.

“Sadly, when we hear these words coming from Prime Minister Netanyahu, the only thing we can see there is the politicisation of this crisis,” Al Ansari said.

“He has made such statements about Qatar on the eve of — and he doubled down on these statements on the eve of the meeting in Paris, when he is sending his chief of intelligence to meet with Qatar in the mediation,” he continued.

“And while he is engaged in that mediation, if he is sincere about what he is saying in Qatar, can he answer the question of why he worked with Qatar on the funding of the aid programs in Gaza, why he is working now in the mediation, and why, even on the 28th of September of last year, so just a week before the 7th of October, his government was engaged in mediation that Qatar was doing between Hamas and Israel?” he detailed

“It is totally unacceptable, but, sadly, we have grown accustomed to it.”