PARIS: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country has played the key mediation role in the Gaza war, visits Paris this week for talks with President Emmanuel Macron, the French presidency said Sunday.
The ruler’s trip on Tuesday and Wednesday will be his first state visit to France since he became emir of the small emirate in 2013, according to the Elysee.
Qatar has emerged as the key player in mediation between Israel and Hamas to agree a truce in Gaza and release more hostages abducted by the Palestinian militant group in its attack on Israel on October 7.
It hosts the political bureau of Hamas but also enjoys warm relations with the United States.
“Qatar is notably working on the release of the hostages, which is a priority for us,” said a French presidential official. Three French nationals are among those still held by Hamas.
The discussions will also focus on “ongoing efforts to obtain a ceasefire... and enable massive aid to be provided to the Gazan population,” added the official.
A previous week-long truce in November saw more than 100 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners freed but so far no other such deal has been agreed despite intense efforts over the last weeks.
Egyptian, Qatari and US experts met in Doha on Sunday for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, state-linked Egyptian media said, seeking to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Doha talks followed a weekend meeting in Paris, without Hamas, where representatives “came to an understanding among the four of them about what the basic contours of a hostage deal for temporary ceasefire would look like,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN.
The war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented attack which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 29,692 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest tally issued Sunday by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Qatar emir due in Paris for talks on Gaza
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Qatar emir due in Paris for talks on Gaza
- The ruler’s trip on Tuesday and Wednesday will be his first state visit to France since he became emir of Qatar
- Country hosts the political bureau of Hamas but also enjoys warm relations with the US
US special envoys in Israel to discuss future of Gaza, sources tell Reuters
JERUSALEM: US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Israel on Saturday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The US on Thursday announced plans for a “New Gaza” rebuilt from scratch, to include residential towers, data centers and seaside resorts, part of President Donald Trump’s push to advance an Israel-Hamas ceasefire shaken by repeated violations.
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, said on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing — effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million people who live there — would open next week.
Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter said ahead of the border’s expected opening.
The border was supposed to have opened during the initial phase of Trump’s plan to end the war, under a ceasefire reached in October between Israel and Hamas.
The death toll in Gaza since October 7, 2023, now stands at 71,654, and the death toll since the October ceasefire at 481, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry on Saturday.
Earlier this month, Washington announced that the plan had now moved into the second phase, under which Israel is expected to withdraw troops further from Gaza, and Hamas is due to yield control of the territory’s administration.
The Gaza side of the crossing has been under Israeli military control since 2024.
Trump also said on Thursday that the United States has an “armada” heading toward Iran, but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
