US president holds talks with Qatari leaders on Air Force One as Washington pushes to reach second phase of Gaza plan.
US President Donald Trump has thanked Qatar for its efforts to reach a ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip, as the United States presses ahead with negotiations on the next phase of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan.
Trump welcomed Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on board Air Force One on Saturday as the US president’s plane stopped to refuel in the Gulf country on its way to a summit in Malaysia.
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“We’ve done a lot together, especially in the last year,” Trump said alongside the Qatari leaders.
“What we’ve done is incredible – peace to the Middle East – and they were a very big factor in it, so I just want to thank you.”
The meeting comes as several senior Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were in Israel this week to ensure the top US ally abides by the deal and to discuss the details of phase two of the US-led plan.
Experts say several elements of the agreement, including Washington’s demand that Hamas disarm and the prospect of deploying an international security force to Gaza, remain unclear.
Reporting from the Qatari capital Doha on Saturday evening, media’s Dorsa Jabari also noted that parts of the first phase have not yet been completed, including the release of all Israeli captives’ bodies from Gaza.
“That has been a point of contention, [with] Israel saying that Hamas has not in the past four days returned any of those bodies,” she said.
“Hamas, for its part, has said it needs more time to access areas that have been out of reach as a result of the war and the heavy bombardment that has come down on the Strip.”
Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes across Gaza and block unimpeded deliveries of humanitarian aid to Palestinians across the territory – putting further strain on the shaky ceasefire.
On Saturday, medical sources in Gaza told media that several Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli forces across the Strip throughout the day.
At least four people also were injured in an Israeli attack on a car in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, which the Israeli military said was targeting an alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad member.
The attack “looks like a breach of an already fragile ceasefire”, media’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Gaza City.
Yet US officials have sought to project a positive message, telling reporters this week that the deal was progressing well despite more work needing to be done.
Speaking to reporters separately on Saturday, Rubio said American officials would get input on a possible United Nations resolution or international agreement to authorise the multinational force in Gaza.
The US secretary of state added that he would discuss the issue in Qatar on Sunday.
“Many of the countries that have expressed an interest in participating at some level – whether it be monetary or personnel or both – are going to need that [a UN resolution or international agreement] because their domestic laws require it,” Rubio said.
“So we have a whole team working on that outline of it.”
According to media’s Jabari, the message from the Trump administration on Saturday was that Qatar has a key role to play as the negotiations progress.
“The United States president has highlighted that without their mediating efforts, this ceasefire would not have been possible in the first place,” she said.
“And of course, moving forward, in order to advance from one stage to the next, it has to be with the input and consultation of the Qataris.”
