#hostage-negotiations

#hostage-negotiations

The small, resource-rich Gulf state has helped negotiate deals to release United States citizens held in Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela, and return Ukrainian children to their families after they were taken to Russia. Qatar has also presided over diplomatic breakthroughs between Sudan and Chad, and Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as the 2011 Darfur peace deal. In 2020, Qatar helped negotiate the US's withdrawal from Afghanistan with the extremist Taliban group.

Witkoff sent a new U.S. proposal last week to Hamas for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal through an Israeli peace activist. The new proposal includes the release of all 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - in exchange for a ceasefire, the end of Israel's Gaza City operation and negotiations on the conditions for ending the war and a full Israeli withdrawal.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that it has informed Gazan medical authorities and humanitarian organizations that they should prepare to leave Gaza City and move south. The notice anticipates that an evacuation order will be issued later for the entire municipality, where the Strip's health authorities and NGOs estimate there are currently one million people. Israel issued the warning publicly the day after army spokesmen with the approval of Benjamin Netanyahu's government