Following the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war, Qatar says negotiations for the next phase have begun."The talks in Sharm el-Sheikh are already underway," Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, told Fox News on Tuesday. All parties are working around the clock to ensure that there is no"time gap" in the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel and between phases one and two.
"The next steps will be very difficult," said al-Ansari, referring to the upcoming second phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. This includes securing the area, for which the plan calls for an international protection force, and the future administration of the coastal area."We have postponed many discussions on phase two to ensure that phase one takes place," said al-Ansari. Now we must ensure that the war does not start again.
Hamas and Israel had agreed a few days ago to a ceasefire, the exchange of hostages and prisoners, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. The agreement was formally sealed on Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh at a summit with US President Donald Trump and other heads of state and government.
According to a media report, this was made possible by an extraordinary meeting with top US officials. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Hamas's highest-ranking foreign official, Khalil al-Haya, for the meeting. The US news website Axios reported this, citing sources familiar with the meeting.
Hamas's main concern during the talks was that Israel would continue its war against them after the release of the last hostages from the Gaza Strip. The goal of the unusual meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh last week was to allay Hamas's concerns, Axios reported.
Meeting in luxury hotel with Trump's embassy
Witkoff and Kushner reportedly met with al-Haya and four other senior Hamas officials in a luxury hotel late that evening for about 45 minutes. They conveyed Trump's message that Hamas would be treated fairly and that Trump would ensure the implementation of the 20 points in his peace plan for Gaza. After the meeting, Hamas withdrew for talks with mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey. A few minutes later, Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad approached Witkoff and Kushner and said:"Based on the meeting that just took place, we have a deal." A few days later, the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced.
The US government imposed sanctions on Hamas in 1995 and designated it a terrorist organization two years later. Washington actually has one of the strongest commitments not to negotiate directly with terrorists. However, there have been several exceptions in recent decades and under previous US presidents, for example, in conflicts in Colombia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
The meeting marks the second direct contact between US representatives and Hamas since the start of the Gaza war. In March, Hamas held direct talks with US hostage negotiator Adam Boehler to secure the release of US-Israeli dual citizen Edan Alexander from Gaza.
