US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was briefed about the progress made in the Israel-Hamas mediation talks by Qatar which has been brokering the deal alongside Egypt and the United States.

The Qatari foreign ministry said that during his meeting with Witkoff, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani discussed “the latest developments in the region, especially the efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

The latest bid to push for a ceasefire in Gaza was launched earlier this month with an aim to bring back dozens of Israeli hostages still held captive in the Palestinian territory.

Diplomatic sources have indicated mounting international pressure on Hamas and Israel to strike a deal in their indirect negotiations.

‘Some progress made’

Earlier this week, US and Arab mediators made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal.

“We’re making some real progress,” US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House. “I’m still hopeful that we’ll be able to have a prisoner exchange,” he said, adding Hamas was getting in the way of that. The president said he met with negotiators on Thursday.

Meanwhile, there is imminent pressure from the incoming US president who said there will be “hell to pay” if all the hostages are not returned before his inauguration day on January 20.

However, several analysts believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers a deal to be finalised under Trump’s presidency rather than in the final days of Joe Biden’s administration.

Death toll in Gaza far more than official records

The
death toll in Gaza in the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war is 40 per cent higher than what the Palestinian health ministry has officially recorded, research published in the Lancet medical journal has revealed.

The study aimed to estimate the number of fatalities resulting from Israel’s air and ground operations in Gaza from October 2023 to the end of June 2024.

Researchers concluded that approximately 64,260 people died from traumatic injuries during this time, with 59.1 per cent identified as women, children, and individuals over 65 years old.

With inputs from agencies