A Palestinian, evacuated from Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza after Israeli forces raided the medical facility, sits next to crutches in Gaza city on Saturday — Reuters DOHA, Dec 29 (AFP): Qatar's prime minister met a Hamas delegation in Doha on Saturday to discuss a "clear and comprehensive" ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, a statement said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani held talks with a Hamas team led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, the foreign ministry statement said.
It is unusual for Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar's foreign minister, to be publicly involved in the mediation process that has appeared deadlocked for months.
"During the meeting, the latest developments in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations were reviewed, and ways to advance the process were discussed to ensure a clear and comprehensive agreement that brings an end to the ongoing war in the region," the statement said.
Earlier this month, the sheikh expressed optimism that "momentum" was returning to the talks following Donald Trump's election victory in the United States.
"We have sensed, after the election, that the momentum is coming back," he said at the Doha Forum political conference.
The incoming Trump administration had given "a lot of encouragement in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office", the premier added.
The Gulf emirate, along with the United States and Egypt, has been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release.
In November, Doha announced it had put its mediation on hold, saying that it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed "willingness and seriousness".
But Doha then hosted indirect negotiations this month, with Hamas and Israel both reporting progress before again accusing each other of throwing up roadblocks.
30 Gaza people
killed in 24 hrs
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that 30 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,514.
The ministry also said in a statement that at least 108,189 people had been wounded in more than 14 months of war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack.
Palestinian woman shot
dead in Jenin camp
A Palestinian woman was shot dead overnight at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, with her family on Sunday accusing the Palestinian Authority's security forces of killing her.
Shatha al-Sabbagh, a journalism student in her early 20s, was killed by a bullet to the head, which her family said was fired by a security forces sniper while there was no fighting going on.
The security forces of the PA, however, blamed Palestinian militants, saying she was shot during night-time clashes at the camp.
The Palestinian security forces said in a statement that the "heinous crime was committed by outlaws inside the Jenin camp". But her family insisted that the Palestinian security forces were responsible.
She was killed by "a sniper's bullet from the security forces of the Palestinian Authority in a heinous crime," the family said in a statement released on Sunday.
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