Iran to back any Gaza ceasefire deal agreed by Hamas, foreign minister says
Iran will support any ceasefire deal agreed by Hamas, the country’s foreign minister told his Qatari counterpart on Monday, a day after the latest round of negotiations with Israel faltered.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani travelled to Tehran to brief the Iranian government on the latest developments in the mediation efforts to end Israel's military campaign in Gaza and tensions in the region.
The visit comes weeks after Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, threatening a wider regional conflict.
Iran has vowed a "definitive and calculated" retaliation, but has said that while it is prepared for an escalation, it does not seek it.
“We will support any agreement that our friends in the Palestinian resistance and Hamas approve,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Thani, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.
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Qatar has been playing a central role in the ceasefire negotiations as a primary mediator on behalf of Hamas. On Sunday, ceasefire talks ended with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo.
In his meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Al Thani emphasised the need to exert diplomatic pressure on Israel.
“The two sides affirmed the importance of ending the occupation forces' crimes against Palestinians, the war on the Gaza Strip, and the terrorism practised by settlers in the West Bank, to spare the region the risks of escalation,” read a statement by the Qatari foreign ministry.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel's war on Gaza or free the remaining captives held by Hamas.
The latest round of negotiations came under the threat of a regional escalation. Over the weekend, Lebanon's Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel as the Israeli military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a larger attack.
Hezbollah’s attack was in response to Israel’s killing of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut late last month.
More than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
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