Qatar Says Current Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Is Closer in Positions of Both Sides

Hana Abdelrahaman al-Rai, a four-year-old child suffering from malnutrition and displaced from Gaza City's eastern suburb of Shujaiya, reacts as she is carried inside a tent in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024. (AFP)
Hana Abdelrahaman al-Rai, a four-year-old child suffering from malnutrition and displaced from Gaza City's eastern suburb of Shujaiya, reacts as she is carried inside a tent in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Qatar Says Current Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Is Closer in Positions of Both Sides

Hana Abdelrahaman al-Rai, a four-year-old child suffering from malnutrition and displaced from Gaza City's eastern suburb of Shujaiya, reacts as she is carried inside a tent in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024. (AFP)
Hana Abdelrahaman al-Rai, a four-year-old child suffering from malnutrition and displaced from Gaza City's eastern suburb of Shujaiya, reacts as she is carried inside a tent in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024. (AFP)

Qatar said on Tuesday it delivered an Israeli proposal to Hamas that reflected the positions stated by US President Joe Biden, adding that the paper was now much closer to the positions of both sides.

Qatar, which has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas, also stressed that there should be a clear position from both parties to reach a ceasefire deal, its foreign ministry spokesperson said in a press briefing.

"We are waiting for a clear Israeli position that represents the entire government in response to the US's Gaza proposal," Majed Al-Ansari added.

Biden on Friday laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel to Palestinian group Hamas to end the war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.

The offer calls for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

"The ceasefire deal should immediately end the long suffering of all people in Gaza and the hostages and their families and provide a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the crisis", al-Ansari said.

Qatar said that it was still waiting to reach language that was agreed by both parties.

"We are now using our best efforts to finalize an agreement," al-Ansari added.



18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
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18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)

About 18,000 Syrians have crossed into their country from Jordan since the government of Bashar Assad was toppled earlier this month, Jordanian authorities said on Thursday.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya told state TV channel Al-Mamlaka that “around 18,000 Syrians have returned to their country between the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad on December 8, 2024 until Thursday.”
He said the returnees included 2,300 refugees registered with the United Nations.
Amman says it has hosted about 1.3 million Syrians who fled their country since civil war broke out in 2011, with 650,000 formally registered with the United Nations.

Earlier this month, Al-Faraya said that security circumstances now allow Syrian refugees to return to their country.

"What prevented refugees from returning to their country was the security issue and now this has changed,” he said.

The minister said information suggests that security conditions on the northern border of the Kingdom with Syria are stable, adding that what is happening today in Syria represents "the end of a tragedy and years of suffering."

The Jaber-Nasib border crossing, which is located about 80 kilometers west of Amman, is currently the only functioning crossing between the two countries.