Qatar’s PM says no hostage talks have taken place for 3-4 weeks

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says there have been no hostage-ceasefire talks with Hamas for a few weeks.

“Basically, in the last three to four weeks, there is no conversation or engagement at all, and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence from all parties,” he tells reporters at the end of the summit between the Gulf Cooperation Council and European Union in Brussels.

The Walla news site reported earlier this week that Shin Bet director Ronen Bar met with then-Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Cairo on Sunday and discussed the stalled negotiations, but did not reach any breakthroughs.

It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.