Qatar says mediation efforts for Gaza cease-fire still ongoing

ISTANBUL (AA) – Qatar has said that mediation efforts for a cease-fire and prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas are still ongoing.

“We are engaged in serious negotiations and discussions between the two sides of the crisis in Gaza,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a press conference in Doha on Tuesday.

“Mediation efforts between the Palestinians and Israel are still ongoing and will not stop, regardless of the circumstances on the ground,” he added.

The spokesman accused some parties of seeking to tarnish Qatar’s image, but did not provide details.

“This will not deter us from our role as long as there is an opportunity to achieve peace,” he added.

His statement came hours after at least 24 Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The war will do nothing but more losses,” al-Ansari said, adding that Doha is holding contacts with the US to halt the Israeli war and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing at least 25,490 Palestinians and injuring 63,354.

The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.