US: Qatar working to have Hamas represented at Thursday hostage talk summit

US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel says that “Qatar has assured us that they will work to have Hamas represented” at Thursday’s hostage talks summit.

Hamas issued a statement earlier this week indicating that it would not attend the meeting, calling on mediators to coax Israel into agreeing to the updated proposal that the terror group submitted in early July.

That offer saw Hamas cave on its long-held, central demand that Israel commit up-front to a permanent ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by submitting a series of new demands that Hamas has rejected, Israeli and US officials say.

A location for Thursday’s summit has not yet been announced, but an Arab official tells The Times of Israel that the current expectation is for the meeting to take place in Doha.

Regardless of whether or not Hamas attends, its negotiators would not be in the same room as Israeli counterparts anyway.

Despite speculation that Hamas might not attend, Patel says, “We fully expect these talks to move forward.”