The Gulf state’s leader landed in Paris on Tuesday where Gaza’s war will be at the centre of the agenda.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said on Tuesday that Doha was positive over the mediation talks on a Gaza deal, though he could not confirm a breakthrough in the discussions, Al Quds Al Arabi reported.
Speaking during a weekly press briefing in Doha, Al Ansari dismissed claims over an agreement between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Qatari diplomat said the Gulf state has also been pressing for an agreement over the deal proposed in Paris during the weekend’s talks, the report added.
He noted that all sides are working towards reaching a deal before the beginning of Ramadan, astronomically predicted to begin by the second week of March.
Paris hosted a round of talks on January 28 with the attendance of officials from Qatar, Egypt, the U.S., and Israel.
The French capital hosted another round of talks on Friday under a climate of cautious optimism, with reports saying some progress was made yet more work was needed to reach a deal.
Israel’s war cabinet also reportedly planned to send a delegation to Qatar this week, though the Gulf state has not publicly commented on the reports.
The meeting in Paris discussed another framework deal, entailing a six-week pause in the war and the release of captives from Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani landed in Paris on Tuesday where he is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron. The war on Gaza will be at the top of the meeting’s agenda.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden hoped that a ceasefire in Gaza could begin by the start of next week, saying Israel was ready to halt its operations during Ramadan as part of any deal.
Asked during an election campaign trip to New York on Monday whether such an agreement would materialise, Biden replied: “I hope by the end of the weekend.”
“My national security advisor tells me that we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden said.
“Ramadan’s coming up and there’s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” he added.
Mediators have been racing against time to secure a deal as the war in Gaza nears its fifth month, killing nearly 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Israel has been planning to move ahead with a full invasion of Rafah, where at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have been crammed with barely access to aid.
The United Nations reported this week that newborns have been dying due to the extreme shortage of food and their mothers’ inability to feed them.
The northern part of Gaza has been the hardest hit by the lack of food and basic resources, with the area still cut off from access to much-needed aid. Palestinians isolated in the north have been risking their lives to flee to the south in hopes of securing food.