Doha — Qatar’s prime minister warned Saturday that the Gaza truce is at a “critical moment” as the first phase of the deal winds down and militants still hold the remains of one Israeli hostage. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum that international mediators, led by the United States, are pushing to move to a second phase to solidify the arrangement.
“What we have just done is a pause,” he said, adding that the situation cannot yet be considered a full ceasefire. He said a complete halt to hostilities will require a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, restored stability across Gaza and freedom of movement for residents.
Although large-scale fighting eased 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 staff at Shifa Hospital said two Palestinians were killed in an airstrike northwest of Gaza City. The Israeli military said it was unaware of an airstrike there, but reported that soldiers killed three militants who crossed the “yellow line” into the Israeli-controlled northern part of Gaza and “posed an immediate threat.” Israeli officials say they have carried out strikes on people who crossed ceasefire lines since the pause took effect.
The U.S.-brokered 20-point plan’s first phase took effect Oct. 10. It halted broad fighting and facilitated exchanges that freed dozens of hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel sent a delegation to Egypt last week to discuss returning the remains of the final hostage.
The proposed second phase — not yet launched — would see deployment of an international security force in Gaza, establishment 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, reportedly expected to be led by former President Donald Trump, could be appointed by year’s end. The plan also sketches a possible long-term path toward Palestinian statehood.
Sheikh Mohammed emphasized the next phase should remain temporary and argued that durable peace requires resolving the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict and creating a Palestinian state — an outcome opposed by Israel’s current 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, adding that the conflict’s root causes extend beyond Gaza.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking at the forum, raised practical questions about the international security force: which countries would take part, how command would be organized and what the force’s initial mission would be. Turkey is named as one of the truce guarantors, but Israel has rejected Turkish participation because of strained Ankara-Jerusalem ties. “Thousands of details, questions are in place,” Fidan said, suggesting deployment of the ISF would be only the first step.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said its future role in Gaza remains uncertain. Israel and the United States have frequently 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 — roughly 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 cautioned that votes mean little without funding: “Votes are great. Cash is better.”
The current conflict began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. That ministry does not separate civilian and combatant deaths and reports that nearly half of the dead are women and children; its figures are cited by the U.N. and other international bodies. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.