The American website "Axios" said today, Wednesday, that the US President's senior advisor for Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk, met yesterday, Tuesday, with the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, in Doha, and discussed with him regional tensions and efforts made to secure the release of detainees. In the Gaza Strip.

According to what the site indicates, the meeting remained far from the media, as neither the White House nor the Qatari government issued a statement about it. McGurk's trip comes on the heels of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to the region, in which he focused on the war in Gaza and tensions in the region.

Qatar plays a major role in mediating between Hamas and Israel to release detainees, and has already succeeded in releasing a number of prisoners and detainees from both sides after reaching a truce agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas had submitted proposals to reach an agreement on the detainees, but none of them were adopted due to wide gaps.

The website reported, citing informed sources, that negotiations had resumed earlier this week after the Hamas movement suspended the talks for several days against the backdrop of the assassination of the movement’s vice president, Saleh Al-Arouri, in Beirut.

During his visit to Israel, Blinken met yesterday, Tuesday, with the families of American detainees in Gaza, noting that the return of all detainees represents a top priority for the American administration.

On Saturday, the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister informed the families of six Israeli and American detainees that the assassination of Al-Arouri made it difficult to advance negotiations to reach a deal that would contribute to the release of more detainees in the Gaza Strip.

The Walla website said that the Qatari Prime Minister told the families he met that despite the difficulty of the negotiations, he was personally committed to continuing attempts to advance towards a new agreement to release detainees, and that he would not give up on that despite the challenges.