A ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas could be achieved before President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Al Thani said on Saturday, while confirming the Gulf state had resumed its mediating role between the two sides.
Speaking in the Doha Forum, Al Thani said that “We have sensed, after the [U.S.] election, that the momentum is coming back. [There had been] a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office.”
The diplomatic development has propelled Qatar to return to the negotiating table over the last two weeks, he added, after the country had publicly suspended its involvement on Nov. 9.
“We hope to get things done as soon as possible. We hope that the willingness of the parties to engage in good faith continues,” he said.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had traveled to Qatar and Israel in a bid to restart ceasefire talks, and that Trump was seeking a deal before he is sworn in.
Witkoff met separately in late November with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Al Thani, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, a source briefed on the talks said.
The Qatar meeting took place on Nov. 22 and the Israel meeting the following day.
The source said of the Doha meeting that “both agreed a Gaza ceasefire is needed before Trump’s inauguration so that once the Trump administration takes office it can move on to other issues, like stabilizing Gaza and the region.”
An Israeli official told Reuters that Witkoff also met with the families of Israeli hostages. He “spoke with them about Team Trump’s efforts to try and broker the deal before inauguration,” the official said.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Israeli Hamas hostage Matan Zangauker calling on the Israeli public to continue protesting in favor of a hostage exchange deal.
Einav Zangauker, Matan’s mother, said in a statement to the press that after 14 months of “sleepless hell” she had finally received “a sign of life from Matan—my Matan is alive!”
She pleaded with the Israeli government to bring her son and the other hostages home.
“My heroic son has survived in captivity against all odds, but the sign of life from Matan proves that he will not survive much longer—and the hostages are in imminent danger. We have to bring everyone home now, immediately,” she said.
Referring to Israel’s prime minister, she pleaded, “[Benjamin] Netanyahu, end this war already and bring everyone home!”