Qatar, US stress need for calm in region

HE the Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh al- Khulaifi met Tuesday in Doha with Secretary of State of the United States of America Antony Blinken.They discussed the close strategic relations between Qatar and the United States of America and ways to support and enhance them.They also tackled the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, developments in joint mediation efforts to end the war on the Strip, and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, and stressed the need for calm and de-escalation in the region.AFP adds: Blinken arrived in Qatar as the latest stop in a Middle East tour aimed at securing a Gaza truce.The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said it was "keen to reach a ceasefire" agreement but protested "new conditions" from Israel in the latest US proposal, which Blinken said Israel had accepted.The US secretary of state, on his ninth regional visit since October, flew from Israel to Egypt Tuesday for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.Sisi told Blinken that "the time has come to end the ongoing war", warning of the consequences of "the conflict expanding regionally", according to an official statement.Blinken then travelled to Doha.Both Egypt and Qatar are working alongside the United States to broker a truce, which diplomats say would help avert a wider conflagration that could draw in Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.Medics and civil defence rescuers in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip meanwhile said Israeli bombardment on Tuesday killed more than two dozen people, and Israel announced it had recovered the bodies of six hostages.Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in reaching an accord that would stop the fighting, free Israeli hostages and allow vital humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying Israel would insist on maintaining control of a strategic strip on the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi corridor.A US official travelling with Blinken, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that "maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line".Mediators met last week with Israeli negotiators in Doha, and more truce talks are expected in Egypt this week.Fears of a regional escalation have mounted since Hezbollah and Iran vowed to respond after an attack last month, blamed on Israel, killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, shortly after an Israeli strike on Beirut killed a top Hezbollah commander.The powerful Lebanese group on Tuesday claimed a string of attacks on Israeli troops and positions.Blinken said on Monday that there was "a real sense of urgency here, across the region", and called ongoing mediation efforts "probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire".Hamas had called on the mediators to implement a framework set out by US President Joe Biden in late May, rather than hold more negotiations.