Qatar: Israel’s Gaza City op will cost hundreds of Gazan civilian lives, endanger hostages

By Nurit Yohanan

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

2 September 2025, 3:35 pm

1 Edit

Nurit Yohanan is The Times of Israel's Palestinian and Arab world correspondent

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speaks during a ceremony at the eve of Memorial Day at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari speaks on a panel at the Doha Forum in the Doha Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar, on December 11, 2023. (Abir SULTAN / POOL / AFP; Noushad Thekkayil/Nur Photo via Reuters)

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari warns that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City endangers everyone, including the hostages.

Speaking at a press conference, al-Ansari says, “The dangerous step Israel is taking, invading Gaza City, given the dense population and the worsening humanitarian situation, will cause the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

It will “endanger everybody, including the hostages,” he adds.

Al-Ansari also addresses the deadlock in negotiations on a hostage-ceasefire deal, adding: “All the efforts to get the negotiations moving have run into a lack of cooperation from Israel. So far, there has been no answer from Israel [to the latest proposal]. And to get to an agreement of one kind or another, there must be readiness from Israel for an agreement.”

In a just-published interview with The Times of Israel from Doha, al-Ansari similarly warned: “The occupation of Gaza City, which will have catastrophic humanitarian results, is not going to push any side toward a deal… We told the Israelis that they are putting their hostages, their people, at risk without having a strategic view of what they want to do.”