'300,000 Palestinians Returned From South To North Of Gaza Strip'

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Irfan Bukhari | The Peninsula

Doha, Qatar: Advisor to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs H E Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari has said that according to some estimates, 300,000 Palestinians returned from the south to north of Gaza Strip.

“Qatar is working with its partners in Egypt through the Qatari-Egyptian Committee to ensure a smooth transition for Palestinian citizens,” Al Ansari said yesterday while addressing a weekly media briefing.

He added that these people are in dire need of support from the international community to stabilize them.“The health and food situation should be appropriate to accommodate these large numbers of displaced persons.”

To a question about the proposal of evacuation of people from Gaza, he explained Qatar's position.

“Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights and that the two-state solution only goes forward in order to resolve the Palestinian issue.

“We have always stood with our Palestinian brothers. On the same note, we are engaging fully with the Trump administration and with Ambassador Witkoff over formulating the policy towards the region.”

He further said,“We exchange our views with them. I'm not going to comment on the type of discussions we are having with them right now, but I would say that it is very productive, and we have been working very closely with the Trump administration over the regional issues as a whole, including the Palestinian issue.”

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“We appreciate very highly the positive engagement with the Trump administration. The deal that we have right now with Israel would not have been possible if it wasn't for the direct engagement by the Trump administration even before they came into the White House.”

“We are continuing this positive engagement with them. You're going to see eye-to-eye in a lot of things with all our allies not only in the United States. We work very closely with them to make sure that we get – or we formulate policy together as we possibly can.”

He said that Qatar continues to prepare and create the atmosphere for the start of negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which will begin on the sixteenth day of the implementation of the first phase of the agreement.

Al Ansari said that there is no real breach so far that could lead to an escalation that would lead to the failure of the agreement.“Many complaints from both sides about the implementation of the agreement have been dealt with, and I do not think that any of them rises to the level of being real.

“An agreement was reached between the two parties to release the detainee Arbel Yehud, whom the Israeli side had been demanding to be released in advance before next Friday, as this problem represented one of the biggest challenges in implementing the agreement and maintaining the truce. However, through intensive contacts and activating the operations room, an agreement was reached regarding it, and this is what we are waiting for now and working with the parties to achieve it,” he said, saying that two other hostages will be released in addition to Arbel Yehud.

He also said that many of the challenges that were obstructing the return of Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip have been overcome.

To another question about Hamas armed men's presence while releasing hostages, he said:“Political posturing on both sides has always been an issue in these talks and negotiations. We have seen quite the exchange of accusations when it comes to this kind of posturing and statements made by officials on the Israeli side, and as you described, the show of force in Gaza. But we stick to the letter of the agreement itself.”

“What I can say right now very clearly is that we are concerned right now with monitoring the implementation of the agreement technically on the ground. And this is what we should be focusing on. Political posturing will be by both sides.”

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