Qatar: Israel should forget hostages, move to phase II of ceasefire

A Qatari spokesman says Hamas is not required to return hostage bodies before the ceasefire advances.

By World Israel News Staff

A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman said Hamas is not obligated to abide by the ceasefire requirement to return the bodies of Israeli hostages, arguing that Israel should simply give up on the captives in order to allow the agreement to move to phase two.

Under the Trump-brokered ceasefire implemented in October, Hamas must return the bodies of all hostages kidnapped from Israel during the October 7th massacres before phase two — which would permit massive rebuilding of the Gaza Strip — can begin.

Despite the clear terms of the agreement, Qatari official Majed al-Ansari dismissed Israel’s demand that Hamas return the bodies of two deceased hostages: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, a police officer killed while battling invading terrorists, and Thai farm worker Sontisak Rintalak.

Rather than acknowledge Hamas’ violation of the ceasefire, al-Ansari appeared to blame Israel, accusing Jerusalem of “obstructing” the peace plan by insisting that the terror group meet its obligations.

“We don’t believe Israel should be allowed to obstruct the implementation of the agreement over these two bodies. At the same time, of course, the Palestinian side is working to retrieve the bodies and preempt any Israeli pretexts,” al-Ansari told the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed podcast.

“The current endeavor for Qatar and its partners in the region is to move from the first phase to the second [of the plan], and thus achieve a sustainable peace that can comprehensively end the state of war in the Gaza Strip,” he continued.

“There are significant challenges in reaching this stage of truce, but the focus now is on maintaining it long enough to reach a political solution in which all parties in the region, along with the international community and the United States, work together to make this plan a success and end the war,” he added.

On Saturday evening, Gvili’s father, Itzik, called on the Netanyahu government not to proceed to phase two of the agreement until his son’s body is returned.