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NEW YORK, October 29. /TASS/. Qatar is making every effort to convince the armed Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas, to lay down their arms as part of a settlement to the conflict in the enclave, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said. "We've been very clear with Hamas, and they have been very clear with us that they are willing to give up their weapons to the government. From their perspective, this obligation extends to all the factions, not just Hamas. We are basically trying to push them to acknowledge that they need to disarm and move on to the next stage," he noted, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The Qatari prime minister emphasized that disarming the armed groups in Gaza will be difficult. At the same time, he emphasized that Israel would be forced to pull its forces from the enclave when international forces arrive, as per the agreements. "We need to create the political horizon and the political environment, the right environment for Palestinians and Israelis in order to reach an understanding and an agreement for coexistence," Al Thani pointed out. On October 9, thanks to the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, the US, and Turkey, Israel and Hamas agreed to implement the first stage of the peace plan presented earlier by US President Donald Trump. The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip went into effect on October 10. On October 13, Hamas and its allies released 20 living Israeli hostages and returned the bodies of four deceased ones. In the following days, Hamas handed over several other hostages' bodies to Israel. According to the Israeli authorities, the radicals continue to hold the remains of thirteen of its kidnapped citizens.
