Despite impasse, Qatari official tells hostage families Doha committed to securing deal

NEW YORK — The relatives of several American-Israeli hostages met yesterday with Qatari Minister of State Mohammed Al-Khulaifi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss efforts being mediated by Doha to release their loved ones.

“The families stressed the urgent need to secure an agreement that will immediately release their loved ones and bring them home to their families,” says a joint statement from the families, adding that they “expressed their gratitude for Qatar’s continued mediation efforts.”

Talks have been stalled for over a month, with the US placing primary blame on Hamas, which executed six hostages and subsequently sought to increase the already-agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners slated for release.

Washington and other mediators have also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the talks, particularly his decision in July to add a new demand that the IDF be allowed to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of the deal.

Despite the impasse, the Qatari minister of state told the hostage families yesterday that Doha remains committed to securing the release of their loved ones, Liz Hirsh Naftali, the great-aunt of released American hostage Abigail Mor Edan, tells The Times of Israel.

“This was not just a commitment that has no work behind it. They’re really working on this,” she asserts.

Notably, she reveals that Qatar is the only Arab country whose representatives in Washington have agreed to even meet with the American hostage families and have done so several times.

Meetings requests sent to the DC embassies of Egypt — which is also mediating the hostage talks — Turkey, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all gone unanswered, Naftali says.

Naftali says that Netanyahu promised her and the other American hostage families during their meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in July that he would work to bring about the rapid release of the hostages and not add additional conditions to the deal.

“He has not kept his commitment,” she laments, noting that the six hostages — including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin — were executed during the two months that lapsed.

Naftali asserts that a hostage deal would provide desperately needed calm and relief to a region on the brink of war.