Qatari foreign minister says hostage-truce talks making progress ‘to some extent’

By AP 21 June 2024, 3:26 pm

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Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani gives a joint press conference with the visiting US secretary of state in Doha on June 12, 2024. (Ibraheem Al-Omari/Pool/AFP)

MADRID – Qatar’s foreign minister says some progress has been made in negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire deal but gaps remain between Israel and Hamas.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose country is a mediator alongside the US and Egypt, says “there has been progress to some extent in the situation.”

Mediators have held “successive meetings” with the Hamas leadership in an effort to bridge the gaps, he says during a visit to Spain.

“There cannot be one party to the conflict adopting the vision of the other party,” he says. The solution “must be based on compromises between the two parties.”