Qatar and Egypt, the states serving as guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, on Saturday called on Israel to withdraw from Gaza and for an international stabilization force be deployed, steps they say are essential to fully carry out the fragile agreement.
Mediators are now working to advance the next phase of the ceasefire, which outlines these measures, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said during a panel discussion at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar’s capital on Saturday.
Israel and Hamas have not yet settled on how to proceed beyond the ceasefire agreement’s initial phase.
During that first phase, Israeli forces moved back behind a designated “yellow line” inside Gaza, while Hamas freed the remaining living hostages in its custody and returned the bodies of all but one of the deceased captives.
“Now we are at the critical moment. It’s not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause,” Al Thani told the annual diplomatic gathering.
“A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, [and] there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out – which is not the case today.”
Working with Egypt and the United States, Qatar played a key role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October.
While the agreement has diminished fighting, Israel has continued to bomb the besieged enclave, with 600 ceasefire violations reported, in which more than 360 people were killed and 900 wounded.
Palestinian local health authorities said Israeli fire killed five people in Beit Lahia and Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
International stabilization force
The still-pending second phase calls for Israel to pull out of its remaining positions in Gaza, the establishment of an interim governing body, and the arrival of an international stabilization mission.
“We need to deploy this force as soon as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every day violating the ceasefire,” said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, also speaking at the Doha Forum.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, meanwhile, told the gathering that discussions about the stabilization force were still under way, with major unresolved issues concerning who would lead it and which nations would participate.
Fidan, whose country is another guarantor of the ceasefire, said the force’s primary mission “should be to separate Palestinians from the Israelis”. “This should be our main objective. Then we can address the other remaining issues,” he said.
Abdelatty agreed, calling for the force to be stationed along “the yellow line in order to verify and to monitor” the ceasefire.
Turkey has expressed interest in joining the stabilization force, but the Israeli government has voiced opposition to its participation.
Fidan later said that disarming Hamas should not be the top priority in Gaza. “That cannot be the first thing to do in the process, the disarming. We need to put things in proper order, we have to be realistic,” he said.
IMAGE CREDIT: Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attends a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum on 6 December 2025 (AFP)
[ SOURCE: MIDDLE EAST EYE ]
