The leaders discussed efforts to increase the flow of emergency humanitarian aid to Gaza.
US President Joe Biden insisted on Friday for the immediate release of hostages captured by Hamas in Israel during his talks with the leader of Qatar, which maintains relations with the Palestinian group that governs Gaza.
Biden, in San Francisco for an Asia-Pacific summit, in a phone call with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani “discussed the urgent need to release without further delay all hostages held by Hamas,” he said. a White House press release said on Friday. .
Biden also discussed Israel’s decision to allow two diesel tanker trucks into the war-torn Gaza Strip each day, following appeals from the United States.
Biden and the emir “discussed ongoing efforts to increase the flow of emergency humanitarian aid to Gaza and Israel’s decision to resume fuel deliveries for life-saving aid,” the White House said .
The two men discussed “strategic relations between the two countries” and ways to strengthen them, Qatari Emirati Diwan said.
The diwan also indicates that Sheikh Tamim had a telephone conversation with the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The two leaders discussed developments in Gaza, as well as other “regional and international developments of common interest.”
The call with Bahrain’s monarch comes as Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister traveled to Manama to meet the country’s crown prince and other senior officials.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said both sides “stressed the need to immediately stop the war in Gaza and protect civilians.”
Two days earlier, Biden told reporters he had “a slight hope” of reaching a deal to release the hostages, which would include about 10 U.S. citizens.
Fighters from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, infiltrated Israel on October 7 and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s subsequent air and ground campaign killed more than 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
In recent years, Qatar has rejected moves by other Gulf Arab monarchies to normalize relations with Israel.
