Hostage deal framework was ready by December 2023, Qatari PM tells Israeli TV
Al-Thani calls for deal to be seen through to end, rejects allegation that Qatar funded Hamas terrorism, insists on two-state solution as only path to peace

In a sit-down interview with Israeli TV, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the framework for the current ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas already existed in December 2023 and shared new details about the process leading up to the agreement that finally came into effect last week.
For over a year, Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, spearheaded efforts to negotiate a deal that would end the fighting in Gaza sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught, and enable the release of the 251 hostages seized by terrorists from southern Israel on that day.
The phased ceasefire agreement that began last Sunday and has so far led to the release of seven hostages — three female civilians and four female soldiers — is only the second deal of the 15-month-old war after 105 hostages were released during a weeklong truce in November last year.
Asked by Channel 12 news in Paris why it took so long for the deal to be finalized, Al-Thani said that it “wasn’t an easy deal” to negotiate.
“It took us almost 15 months of negotiations, since the collapse of the first deal,” he said. “We had a lot of ups and downs throughout the negotiations, it was a very complicated process.”
“We’ve been saying since the beginning, since October 8, that we need to get this done as soon as possible. We have been through a very long process that has at some times, at many times, been very frustrating for us as mediators,” he recalled.

“What we really feel sad about is that it took [this long] to get to an agreement that we agreed on the framework of back in December 2023,” he said.
“So this is the same agreement that was agreed on then?” asked Channel 12 reporter Arad Nir.
“It’s almost the same,” Al-Thani said. “There are some details here and there… Everyone is saying it is the same agreement as May 27… The problem is that with every day we were delayed, we felt a sense of responsibility that [it] was costing a lot of lives, of the Gazans or of the hostages being held in Gaza.”
He said it took “a lot of persistence and hard work” to finalize the deal.
Asked who stands to benefit more from the deal, Hamas or Israel, the Qatari leader said that mediators believed the deal, in its final iteration, was the best way to ensure that the concerns of both sides were met.
“The ideal agreement [for us would be] to stop the war and get all the hostages in one phase and we’d be finished,” he said.

Asked why the deal couldn’t have been formulated that way, Al-Thani said it was prevented by “political requirements,” but did not elaborate further.
He said that the viability of the second stage of the deal, which is to be formally negotiated starting on the 16th day of the first phase, depends on both Israel and Hamas. He said he hopes to start engaging with Israel next week on phase two.
“I believe that it’s very important we keep this deal until the last phase, to get everyone back and end the war permanently,” he said.
He said both the Biden administration and the Trump administration “played a vital role” in the agreement, including the returning US president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
“The commitment of President Trump to end this was a very important element,” he said.
Asked about Trump’s threats of hell breaking out if there is no deal, he said he does not think it was threatening language that worked, but rather “the commitment… toward a solution.”

Touching on the future of the Hamas terror group, Al-Thani said it was impossible to speculate without looking at the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at large.
“It needs to be addressed as a whole. The whole issue is to find a sustainable path toward peace and where we can see Israel and Palestinians living side by side peacefully together and giving every assurance that both people will be secure,” he said.
He added that Qatar believes the two-state solution to be the only viable way forward.
“Our region is not an easy region. It’s a very complex region. It’s turbulent, there are ancient wars, proxies, state actors, non-state actors and we’ve seen this go on and on,” Al-Thani said. “A two-state solution will be the only way forward [to have] a region that lives in peace together.”
Responding to the fact that many Israelis are unwilling to live with the possibility that Hamas will remain in charge of a postwar Gaza Strip, Al-Thani said he believes that the future of the Gaza Strip and its government “is a decision for the Palestinians to take” but acknowledged that “the Israeli people also have the right to assurances of security on their border.”
“This is something we totally understand and will support,” he said.

The Qatari prime minister rejected accusations that Qatar is a partner to Hamas terrorism, arguing that Doha’s role as a regional mediator requires it to “have an open communication channel with everyone.”
By allowing Hamas’s political leadership to operate out of Doha, he said that Qatar has been able to “resolve conflict, to prevent conflicts from happening.”
Al-Thani also dismissed those who charge that Qatar has funded Hamas’s terror activity in Gaza by funneling money into the Palestinian enclave and pointed out that the transfer of cash for humanitarian causes was fully coordinated with and supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
Since 2018, Qatar periodically provided millions of dollars in cash to pay for fuel for the Strip’s power plant, to pay Hamas’s civil servants and to provide aid to tens of thousands of impoverished families. However, some people believe Hamas was taking control of the money and using it to fund its terrorist activities.
“When it comes to the criticism about Qatar and the propaganda around it, it’s unfortunate to see that our role, what we did for the good of the region and the stability of the region, being criticized by shortsighted people, politicians trying to exploit this for their own political advantage,” Al-Thani said.
“Those politicians criticizing our role — what did they do to bring them back?” he asked, referring to the hostages held by Hamas. “What did they do to ensure stability over there [in Gaza]? Besides talking and using us to score something politically.”
Regarding the possibility of future formal diplomatic ties between Doha and Jerusalem, Al-Thani was asked if he thought he would ever visit Israel.
“It depends on [what] the way forward will be,” he said simply. “There are no conditions. We are talking about peaceful solutions, and whatever it takes to bring peace to the region, we will do it.”