December 6, 2025 / 2:30 PM EST / AP
Qatar’s prime minister said Saturday the Gaza ceasefire is at a “critical moment” as its first phase winds down, with militants still holding the remains of one Israeli hostage. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum that international mediators, led by the U.S., are working “to force the way forward” to a second phase to cement the deal.
“What we have just done is a pause,” he said. “We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire.” He added that a ceasefire cannot be completed without a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, restored stability in Gaza and freedom of movement for residents.
While heavy fighting stopped under the first phase, Gaza health officials say more than 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce began in October. New violence was reported Saturday when Shifa Hospital staff said two Palestinians were killed in an airstrike northwest of Gaza City. The Israeli military said it was unaware of an airstrike there but said soldiers had killed three militants who crossed the “yellow line” into the Israeli-controlled northern part of Gaza and “posed an immediate threat.” Since the ceasefire, Israel says it has carried out strikes on Palestinians who crossed ceasefire lines.
The first phase of the U.S.-brokered 20-point plan took effect Oct. 10, halting fighting and prompting exchanges that freed dozens of hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel sent a delegation to Egypt last week for talks on returning the remains of the last hostage.
The next phase — not yet begun — calls for deployment of an international security force in Gaza, formation of a technocratic government, disarmament of Hamas and an eventual Israeli withdrawal. Arab and Western officials told The Associated Press that an international body to oversee the ceasefire, expected to be led by former President Trump, could be appointed by year’s end. The plan also envisions a possible long-term pathway toward Palestinian independence.
Sheikh Mohammed said even the upcoming phase should be temporary and stressed that lasting peace requires resolving the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a Palestinian state — an idea opposed by Israel’s government and many Israelis. “If we are just resolving what happened in Gaza, the catastrophe that happened in the last two years, it’s not enough,” he said. “There is a root for this conflict. And this conflict is not only about Gaza.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking at the Doha Forum, questioned how an international security force would be formed, which countries would participate, its command structure and its initial mission. Turkey is listed as one of the ceasefire guarantors, but Israel has rejected Turkish participation in the force because of strained Ankara-Jerusalem ties. “Thousands of details, questions are in place,” Fidan said. “I think once we deploy ISF, the rest will come.”
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it remains unclear what role it will play in Gaza’s future. Israel and the U.S. have often sidelined UNRWA during the war, accusing it of links to Hamas — allegations the agency denies. Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations, said the agency has been excluded from U.S.-led talks on the second phase and warned that replicating its network of services and staff — about 12,000 employees in Gaza — would be nearly impossible. The U.S., once UNRWA’s largest donor, halted funding in early 2024. The U.N. General Assembly renewed UNRWA’s mandate through 2029 this week, but Alrifai said the agency still faces a severe cash crisis: “Votes are great. Cash is better.”
The conflict began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Israel’s response has, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and says nearly half of the dead are women and children; its figures are used by the U.N. and other international bodies. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
