The nation that helped broker a string of prisoner-for-hostages swaps between Israel and Hamas militants warned Sunday that the window for future deals may be closing as Israeli forces intensify attacks in southern Gaza.
The exchanges, carried out during a weeklong cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave, briefly raised hopes of a longer break in the fighting and increased assistance for besieged Gaza residents caught up in the fighting.
But Israel, backed by the Biden administration, has argued that a lengthy cease-fire would only give Hamas leaders, whose Oct. 7 murderous rampage into southern Israel ignited the latest round of fighting, time to regroup and re-arm.
Officials in Qatar, which played a key mediating role in the first cease-fire, said Sunday the resumption of fierce fighting in the northern and southern parts of Gaza has made future diplomatic efforts much more difficult.
“What happened in the fallout of this pause, actually we feel disappointment that the parties didn’t give a chance for further efforts to be taking place,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, who is also the oil-rich country’s foreign minister, told a forum in Doha Sunday, adding his government “is not going to give up” on its efforts in Gaza.
“It always takes two parties to be willing to [agree to] such an engagement,” Mr. al-Thani said. “Unfortunately we are not seeing the same willingness that we have seen in the weeks before in … both parties.
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Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a television interviewer Sunday that there was no deadline to end the war while Hamas remains intact and more than 150 Israelis and foreign nationals remain hostages.
“The evaluation that this can’t be measured in weeks is correct, and I’m not sure it can be measured in months,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, appearing Sunday on “CNN,” again tried to walk a messaging tightrope for the administration, repeatedly backing Israel’s right to defend itself and punish Hamas while pleading for greater protections for Gaza civilians.
Gaza health officials say the number of total Palestinian deaths in the Israeli operation after Oct. 7 has now topped 17,700, and reports of heavy civilian deaths have sparked fury across the Arab world and growing international pressure for Israel to pull back. The Palestinian estimates cannot be confirmed from outside sources.
Some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 soldiers and civilians were taken hostage in the initial Hamas surprise attack.
“Israel needs to be able to deal with this to protect itself, to prevent Oct. 7 from happening again,” Mr. Blinken said. “But, as it does that, it’s imperative that civilians be protected.”
While Mr. Blinken said there are constant talks between the U.S. and Israel, questions on how to conduct the war and how long the fighting will last are “decisions for Israel to make.”
Israeli officials argue that Hamas, which Israel, the U.S. and many Western nations consider to be a terrorist organization, is to blame for locating many of its military outposts in heavily civilian areas.
But the pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was evident Friday, when the U.S. was forced to use its veto to block an emergency U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the conflict. The vote in the council was 13-1, with only Britain abstaining.
Having already moved into the northern end of the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces were reportedly pushing their way Sunday into the center of Khan Younis, the biggest city in southern Gaza and a place where many refugees from the fighting in the north had taken shelter.
With fighting now underway throughout Gaza and the borders sealed against fleeing abroad, aid groups said the 2.3 million residents of Gaza face an increasingly impossible choice when seeking refuge.
Mr. Blinken, speaking separately on ABC’s “This Week,” defended a new Pentagon arms package for Israel, including a portion that bypassed the regular congressional approval process on an emergency basis.
“We want to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas,” Mr. Blinken said.
“A small portion of what has been requested is going through on an emergency basis that is moving quickly so that Israel can have what it needs in hand. But virtually everything else is going through the regular order, through Congress.”
Again noting the heavy civilian toll of the Gaza fighting, Mr. Blinken added, “When it comes to the weapons that we transfer, the rules that go along with them, those rules apply to Israel as they do to any other country, including the way they’re used and the need, the imperative of respecting international humanitarian law.”
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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