From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Reps from US, Qatar, Egypt will monitor ceasefire deal from Cairo — Qatari PM
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says there will be a “follow-up mechanism” made up of representatives from the US, Qatar and Egypt that will be based in Cairo and responsible for monitoring the implementation of the hostage release and ceasefire agreement.
The mechanism will hopefully be in place by Sunday when the ceasefire commences, Al Thani says during a press conference announcing the agreement.
The Qatari premier is asked why he’s confident that this deal will hold when the previous deal in November 2023 fell apart after a week.
The previous deal was aimed at “building the momentum to lead to a longer-term agreement, which [is what] we have today,” Al Thani responds.
He says the November deal was “transactional” and a day-to-day deal, whereas the new agreement is a more detailed three-staged deal.
“The details of the agreement will be published in the next couple of days once the details are finalized,” Al Thani adds.
The Qatari premier says collaboration between the incoming and outgoing US administrations played a “vital role” in securing today’s deal.
Al Thani makes a point of thanking both US President Joe Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff for their efforts over the past week in Doha.
The Times of Israel Community.