Qatar: ‘We are not near a Gaza ceasefire deal, situation is very complicated on the ground’

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari says that while a hostage and ceasefire deal is not close to being agreed upon, Doha remains hopeful.

“We are not near a Gaza ceasefire deal but remain hopeful,” he says at a press conference in Doha, adding that talks are ongoing.

“We are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve the current disagreement over the implementation of a deal,” he says.

All parties were “continuing to work in the negotiations to reach a deal hopefully within the confines of Ramadan,” Ansari says.

But he adds that he cannot not “offer any timeline” on a deal and explains the situation remains “very complicated on the ground.”

He also says that Qatar is working to establish a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, rather than a short-term truce of a few days.

Israel has said any ceasefire must be temporary and that its goal remains the destruction of Hamas and the return of all hostages. The terror group says it will release the hostages it has been holding since October 7 only as part of a deal that ends the war.

The apparent outline of a six-week truce deal, thus far rejected by Hamas, would see 40 children, women, elderly and sick hostages released in a first phase, in exchange for some 400 Palestinian security prisoners, with the possibility of further releases to be negotiated.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive.