Qatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of an international stabilisation force as the necessary next steps in fully implementing the fragile agreement.<\/p>\n
The measures were spelt out in the US- and UN-backed peace plan that has largely halted fighting, though the warring parties have yet to agree on how to move forward from the deal\u2019s first phase.<\/p>\n
Its initial steps required Israeli troops to pull back behind a \u201cyellow line\u201d within Gaza\u2019s borders, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas released the living hostages it still held and handed over the remains of all but one of the deceased.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are at the critical moment \u2026 A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces (and) there is stability back in Gaza,\u201d the Qatari premier, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference.<\/p>\n
Qatar, alongside Egypt<\/a> and the US, helped secure the long-elusive truce, which remains delicate as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching its terms.<\/p>\n Key sticking points have also emerged over the implementation of the second phase, which has yet to begin, including the question of Hamas\u2019s disarmament.<\/p>\n Hamas is supposed to disarm under the 20-point plan first outlined by the US president, Donald Trump, with members who decommission their weapons allowed to leave Gaza. The group has repeatedly rejected the proposition.<\/p>\n Hamas said on Saturday that it was ready to hand over its weapons in the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian authority on the condition that the Israeli army\u2019s occupation ends.<\/p>\n \u201cOur weapons are linked to the existence of the occupation and the aggression,\u201d Hamas\u2019s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the occupation ends, these weapons will be placed under the authority of the state,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Under the plan endorsed by the UN<\/a> in November, Israel is to withdraw from its positions, Gaza is to be administered by a transitional governing body known as the \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d, and an international stabilisation force is to be deployed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to deploy this force as soon as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every day violating the ceasefire,\u201d Egypt\u2019s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, said at the Doha Forum.<\/p>\n The Egyptian foreign ministry said Abdelatty and Sheikh Mohammed met on Saturday, with both stressing \u201cthe importance of continuing efforts to implement\u201d the peace agreement.<\/p>\n Arab and Muslim nations, however, have been hesitant to participate in the new force, which could end up fighting Palestinian militants.<\/p>\n Trump would theoretically chair the \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d, while the identities of the other members have yet to be announced.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, told the forum that talks on the stabilisation force were continuing, with critical questions remaining as to its command structure and which countries would contribute.<\/p>\n Fidan said its first goal \u201cshould be to separate Palestinians from the Israelis\u201d.<\/p>\n Abdelatty seconded the idea, calling for the force to be deployed along \u201cthe yellow line in order to verify and to monitor\u201d the truce.<\/p>\n There have been many deadly incidents of Israeli forces firing on Palestinians in the vicinity of the yellow line since the ceasefire went into effect.<\/p>\n Turkey, also a guarantor of the truce, has indicated it wants to take part in the stabilisation force, but its efforts are viewed unfavourably in Israel.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Fidan said Hamas\u2019s disarmament should not be the main priority in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to put things in (their) proper order, we have to be realistic,\u201d he said at the forum.<\/p>\n He also urged the US to intervene with Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to ensure the plan succeeds.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they don\u2019t intervene, I\u2019m afraid there is a risk the plan can fail,\u201d Fidan said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of daily violations of the ceasefire by the Israelis is indescribable at the moment and all indicators are showing that there is a huge risk of stopping the process.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar and the other truce guarantors were \u201cgetting together in order to force the way forward for the next phase\u201d of the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this next phase is just also temporary from our perspective,\u201d he said, calling for a \u201clasting solution that provides justice for both people\u201d.<\/p>\n The ceasefire plan calls for Gaza\u2019s Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt to be reopened to allow in aid.<\/p>\n Israel said it would open the checkpoint, but \u201cexclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt\u201d.<\/p>\n Egypt swiftly denied that it had agreed to such a move, insisting the crossing be opened both ways.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s announcement drew expressions of concern from several Muslim-majority nations, who said they opposed \u201cany attempts to expel the Palestinian people from their land\u201d.<\/p>\n Abdelatty said on Saturday that Rafah \u201cis not going to be a gateway for displacement\u201d, but only an entry point for aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Qatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-171306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}