A Qatari spokesman said on Tuesday that he remained hopeful, but not necessarily optimistic about the outlook of talks in mediation of Qatar and its regional partners to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Representatives from Qatar, Egypt, the United States, and Israel gathered in Doha for peace talks on Sunday and Monday and made some progress, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a press conference in Doha on Tuesday.
Currently, relevant parties are continuing to advance the peace talks, and communication channels remain open, but the situation is not easy, according to the spokesman.
"Regarding how hopeful we are, I will say at this point that I remain hopeful, not necessarily optimistic. So, we can't lose hope. The situation is not easy. We haven't reached an agreement for a really long time since November 2023. Right now, we are working, as I said, there is a new interest. And we are working always in keeping channels of communication open," he said.
Qatar is also mediating between Iran, the United States and Israel, which is carried out separately from the Palestine-Israel mediation, but in light of the current regional situation, Qatar is considering combining the two endeavors to de-escalate the situation in a more effective manner, the spokesman told reporters.
"We have been involved in facilitating communication between Iran and the United States and Israel to de-escalate. And this channel of communication has remained open since then. And the talks are ongoing to keep that channel of communication open and to make sure that there is a relative de-escalation between both sides. We are hopeful that this last attack will be the last stretch," he said.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,061, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday.
Iran launched nearly approximately 180 missiles at Israeli targets on Oct 1 in what Tehran said was retaliation for the killings of top Hezbollah and Hamas officials.
The Israel Defense Forces said early Saturday that it launched "precise and targeted" airstrikes on targets in several areas in Iran in response to the attacks from the country in recent months.
On the same day, Iran said that it reserves the right to respond "legally and legitimately" to the Israeli attack.
Qatar not optimistic about Gaza ceasefire talks
Chinese engineers of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceflight mission team cheered the spacecraft's successful launch on Wednesday, pledging to work harder to ensure the success of future missions.
The Shenzhou-19 manned spaceship, with three astronauts on board, has entered its designated orbit after blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 04:27 (Beijing Time) Wednesday.
About 10 minutes after liftoff, the spaceship separated from the Long March-2F carrier rocket and entered its designated orbit. The crew members are in good shape and the launch was a "complete success," announced Zou Lipeng, commander of the launch center.
The successful launch delighted engineers at the control center in Jiuquan.
"The rocket, satellite and launch site systems performed perfectly for this launching mission, while the teamwork between them was also fine. Today's rocket flew as steadily as always, and we made it a precise 10-ring shooting for which we should give a thumb-up for our team, and China's space program. For us, every mission starts from scratch, and we have to do everything in an approach of returning to zero to make it refine in ever detail and do it solidly, eliminating every hidden hazard and making sure that there is no error and absolute success is made," said Zhao Lei, a commander of the Shenzhou-19 mission.
The spaceship is carrying more payloads compared with previous ones, according to engineers.
"We have strict control over the technical status, but with the mission adjustment this time, this spaceship is carrying the largest ever cargo load, manifesting our Shenzhou spaceship's features and advantages in carrying both astronauts and cargo, which includes upward payloads and daily necessities for astronauts in their in-orbit life. Our spaceship is unique in that it can load with short-shelf-life food in the launch area, which makes it able to carry fresh food to the space station," said He Yu, commander in chief of the Shenzhou spaceship.
While in orbit, the Shenzhou-19 spaceship is scheduled to make a fast automated rendezvous and docking with China's Tiangong space station combination, where the three astronauts will stay for approximately six months.
"The spaceship will rendezvous and dock with the space station at noon today (Wednesday), sending the three astronauts and the payload to the space station. Then, it will form a combined unit with the space station, where [the astronauts] will make a long-term stay for half a year," said He.
The mission team optimized the launching process, while the design team of the Long March-2F carrier rocket worked closely with the launch site to ensure a success launch.
"We further optimized the process for this mission to make it smoother. When preparing in the technical area, we conducted corresponding analyses on the testing coverage, so we made some adjustments and optimizations to the process on this basis," said Liu Feng, chief designer of the Long March-2F carrier rocket.
"We worked closely with the launch site systems. [The rocket] took off at the launch site, so our cooperation with them, and our work relations with them are closer," said Liu.
Engineers cheer successful launch of Shenzhou-19
