Qatar's chief negotiator expressed frustration over the stalled Gaza truce talks in a recent interview, as a month of renewed Israeli strikes and failed negotiations left efforts to reach a deal at a standstill.
"We're definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day," Mohammed al-Khulaifi told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.
Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas that came into force on Jan. 19 and largely halted over a year of war triggered by the Palestinian resistance group's Oct. 7, 2023, incursion of Israel.
The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps.
Hamas has insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase of the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework.
Israel, which had called for an extension to the opening phase, resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 after earlier halting the entry of aid.
Late Thursday, Hamas signaled the group would not accept Israel's newest proposal for a 45-day cease-fire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the Palestinian group, the group said.
"We've been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two sides," the Qatari minister of state said.
"And we will remain committed to this, in spite of the difficulties," he added.
During the long mediation process, Qatar has been the target of direct criticism from Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At least two of Netanyahu's aides are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government to promote Doha's interests in Israel, prompting an Israeli criminal probe. Qatar has dismissed the attacks as a "smear campaign."
"We've been receiving those types of criticism and negative comments since the early times of our involvement," al-Khulaifi said.
"Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise," he added.
Al-Khulaifi rejected recent remarks from Netanyahu to the U.S.-based evangelical Christian channel Daystar that Qatar had promoted "anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism" on U.S. college campuses.
"His claims about Qatar's educational partnerships have been repeatedly disproven. Everything we do is transparent," the Qatari official added.
Qatar, with al-Khulaifi as its lead negotiator, has emerged as a facilitator in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has flared in recent months, with the armed M23 group making a series of rapid gains in the country's resource-rich east.
In early March, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, who is accused of backing the M23, held surprise meetings in Doha and later expressed their support for a cease-fire.
"This meeting happened to really find a pathway towards de-escalation and more of an agreement on an implementation mechanism," al-Khulaifi said.
"We've managed to create this flexible line of communication between the two sides and we're hoping there are more successes than you can hear within the next days," the Qatari minister added.
Al-Khulaifi said following the meetings between the leaders that Qatar had convinced the M23, Rwanda and the DRC to "de-escalate" near the strategic mining hub of Walikale.
This allowed "a process of withdrawing from Walikale to the eastern sides, to Goma. That movement by itself was, in our view, a positive development," he added, referring to the M23-held capital of DR Congo's North Kivu Province.
Al-Khulaifi said the United States had been "a reliable partner" in DR Congo and he hoped to discuss the conflict with the U.S. envoy for Africa, Massad Boulos, in Washington in the coming days.
In the United States, al-Khulaifi said he would also raise the issue of ongoing sanctions on Syria following the ousting of Bashar Assad.
Along with Qatari funding for gas supplies to Syria, Qatar is discussing with regional partners an increase in public sector salaries in the country.
"We're discussing it very closely with our US colleagues to see how can we move on within this project," al-Khulaifi said.
