Despite the massacre of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, Israel is trying to pressure Qatar to mediate with Hamas for the release of its hostages. Israel claims that Qatar hosts and funds Hamas, and therefore it should also exert pressure on Hamas for the release of the captives.
On the other hand, the heads of the American and Israeli intelligence agencies (CIA and Mossad) will meet with the Qatari prime minister in the next few days to discuss the release of the Israeli hostages and a temporary ceasefire. White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the CIA chief is trying to secure the return of the hostages. The movements of the CIA chief are kept secret for security reasons, but the White House envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, visited Egypt and Qatar this week to negotiate on this deal.
Meanwhile, the Arab League has called for an extraordinary meeting today at the request of the Palestinian Authority. The meeting will be chaired by Morocco at the level of permanent representatives. It is worth noting that in the previous temporary ceasefire and the release of 105 hostages in November, the CIA and Mossad chiefs also played a key role.
Since October 7, the number of Palestinian martyrs has exceeded 26,453, while more than 64,487 have been injured. The International Court of Justice’s decision was also in vain, as Israel continued its attacks on Gaza, killing another 185 Palestinians.
Gaza is home to 2.3 million Palestinians and has been under Hamas’s rule since 2007. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 7,000 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes for more than two weeks. However, the United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire.