Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Qatari PM meets Hamas leader to pressure group to accept ceasefire deal
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
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)
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met earlier today with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, pressing him to compromise on some of the revisions it submitted last week to Israel’s hostage-ceasefire proposal, a government official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
Another source familiar with the matter says that the main stumbling blocks to a deal remain Hamas’s demand for Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of IDF troops in the first phase of the deal, while Israel is insisting it will only agree to end the war after all hostages are released and after Hamas has been removed from power.
