DOHA: Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza conflict, said on Tuesday that Palestinians — not outsiders — must decide the territory’s future after the Israel-Hamas war.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told a Doha news conference that the issue was “a Palestinian question,” after Israel insisted on removing Hamas and the US proposed taking over the territory.
“From our perspective, this is a Palestinian question on what happens post this conflict,” said Ansari when asked about Israel’s stated objective to eliminate Hamas.
“It is a Palestinian question on who represents the Palestinians in an official capacity and also the political groups and parties in the political sphere,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said earlier on Tuesday that negotiations for the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which Qatar helped broker, would begin this week.
The second phase of the truce is meant to facilitate the release of all remaining hostages seized during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Saar said Israel demanded the “complete demilitarization of Gaza” and would “not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist groups” in the territory, ruled by Hamas since 2007.
More hostage-prisoner exchanges are expected before the end of the first phase, which has also allowed humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza.
Hamas however has accused Israel of blocking the entry of prefabricated structures and heavy machinery to clear rubble.
Ansari, the Qatari spokesman, said that “the aid that enters the Gaza Strip today is insufficient.
“Using humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip in negotiations is a crime in and of itself.”
