Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Doha for negotiations on securing a ceasefire in Gaza with the emir of Qatar, whose country is at the heart of mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas.
The official Palestinian Wafa news agency said Abbas would meet Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Monday, but did not say whether he would also meet the leadership of Hamas, a group that has long been at odds with Abbas and his Fatah based in the West Bank. band.
Palestinian Ambassador to Qatar Munir Ghannam told Voice of Palestine radio on Sunday that Abbas and the emir would discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel and ways to increase helps the 2.3 million inhabitants of the territory.
“Qatar plays an important role in international efforts and mediation to achieve a ceasefire. Therefore, coordination with Qatar, as well as Egypt, is of particular importance to end this aggression against our people,” Ghannam said.
Qatar hosts Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as well as another senior leader of the group, Khaled Meshaal, who handles diaspora affairs in the Hamas political office.
The visit comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to advance plans for a ground offensive on Rafah, despite growing international concern over the potential consequences for the 1.4 million Palestinian civilians crowded into the southern city from Gaza.
The United States, Israel’s main international ally, has warned that an attack on Rafah could be a “disaster” and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Palestinian civilians in the city had “no nowhere to go “.
Egypt has warned of “disastrous consequences” of a possible Israeli military attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, near its border.
“Egypt called for the need to unite all international and regional efforts to prevent the targeting of the Palestinian city of Rafah,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Mohammed Nazzal, a senior Hamas official, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Netanyahu “wants the war to continue in power and does not want to lose his right-wing coalition.”
“He wants to continue fighting until the US elections in November so that (Donald) Trump wins,” Nazzal said.
Israel began its attack on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas fighters carried out a surprise attack in southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 people and taking about 240 others hostage, according to Israeli officials.
After the attack, Israel launched a devastating bombardment and ground invasion that reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed more than 28,100 people, according to Palestinian authorities.
Negotiations for a ceasefire agreement and the release of the hostages have so far failed to reach an agreement. Last week, Israel rejected a Hamas proposal, saying it would not stop fighting as long as the group retains the brigades that Israel says are hiding in Rafah.
Last Thursday, a Hamas delegation was in Cairo and left the next day after speaking with Egyptian and Qatari officials for ceasefire negotiations.
While Gaza has been governed by Hamas since 2007, areas of the West Bank occupied by Israel are governed by the Palestinian Authority, led by Fatah.
Abbas’ authority has been largely reduced to the West Bank, which is larger than Gaza but is also fractured by Israeli settlements.
Past attempts, mainly led by Egypt, to resolve differences between Hamas and Fatah have so far failed to end the divisions, which analysts say weakens Palestinian efforts to secure their own state on land now occupied by Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials accuse the PA of failing to control factions such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, which have called on Israel to lift the blockade of the enclave and end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Successive Israeli governments have extended settlement expansion into the occupied Palestinian territories, in violation of international law.