Gaza ceasefire at a ‘critical moment’ mediators say, at risk of collapse

Doha, Qatar – Qatar’s prime minister has warned that the Gaza ceasefire is at a “critical moment” and could unravel without rapid movement towards a permanent peace deal, as Turkiye’s foreign minister also cautioned that the process could lose momentum.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told the Doha Forum on Saturday that what exists on the ground amounts to merely a “pause” in hostilities rather than a genuine ceasefire.

He said a true ceasefire “cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal” of Israeli forces, alongside restored stability and freedom of movement for Palestinians, none of which have materialised.

Turkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan echoed that message at the forum, saying that without timely United States intervention, the peace process risks stalling entirely.

Fidan said that senior US officials “need to intervene in a timely manner so that we can go into the second phase, otherwise we can lose momentum”, adding that Hamas has largely fulfilled its obligations on returning captives.

Only one captive’s body is still in Gaza, as all living captives and the remains of all the rest have been handed to Israeli authorities.

Their warnings come as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated, with some 600 violations of the ceasefire in the last seven weeks, and with three Palestinians killed on Saturday in the latest Israeli attack in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

Israel has killed at least 360 Palestinians since the October 10 ceasefire began, according to Gaza authorities. Among the dead are at least 70 children, UNICEF has reported, adding that the ceasefire “must translate into genuine safety for children, not more loss”.

Fidan said several Muslim-majority countries that could send troops to Gaza for a proposed international stabilisation force, now endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, want Turkiye to contribute troops, but Israel’s government is opposed.

“Mr Netanyahu doesn’t hide it,” Fidan said at the event, adding that he “openly doesn’t want to see Turkish troops there.”

Norway’s foreign minister went further, insisting the force and an international peace council “must be formed this month”.

Espen Barth Eide said that the Trump administration’s plan contains sequencing ambiguities that allow “each of the sides to stall on doing their required parts” until the other fulfils its obligations first.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty proposed deploying the international force along Gaza’s so-called yellow line immediately to verify ceasefire compliance, noting that “Israel is every day violating the ceasefire and claiming the other side is the one who is violating it”.

He emphasised the urgency as winter approaches, with Palestinians lacking shelter following what he called Israel’s “systematic destruction” of the territory.

His warning came as eight Muslim-majority nations, including Egypt and Qatar – both key ceasefire mediators – issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s plan to open the Rafah border crossing exclusively for Palestinian departures.

The countries expressed alarm that the one-way arrangement breaches the US-brokered peace plan and could facilitate the permanent displacement of Gaza’s population, only allowing Palestinians to leave their territory, but not to return, and block the entry of humanitarian aid.

Saudi Arabia’s minister plenipotentiary Manal Radwan warned against treating Gaza as an isolated crisis, stressing it remains inseparable from the broader Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

Without addressing “the core of the conflict,” she said, the international community risks repeating familiar cycles of violence, followed by political fatigue.

The ceasefire’s second phase – calling for an international stabilisation force (ISF), a technocratic Palestinian government, Hamas disarmament and full Israeli withdrawal – has yet to begin. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 70,125 Palestinians since October 2023.