Qatar’s prime minister acknowledged on Wednesday that Hamas violated the ceasefire with Israel the day prior by striking IDF troops in Gaza, calling the incident “disappointing and frustrating.”

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that, though Tuesday’s violation was highlighted by the media, “this is something that is expected throughout the ceasefire.”

“I believe what happened yesterday was a violation, and then what we were expecting [was] that … there will be a response. But fortunately, I think the main parties, both of them, are acknowledging that the ceasefire should hold and they should stick to the agreement,” Al-Thani said. Israel did respond to Hamas’ attack with strikes in Gaza on Tuesday and said it was resuming its ceasefire commitments on Wednesday.

Pressed by moderator and MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin on who exactly committed the violation, Al-Thani admitted, “Well, look, if we start to describe the violations, it will be an open-ended question. But what happened yesterday, the attack on the Israeli soldiers, that’s basically a violation by the Palestinian party.” 

He said Qatar is “trying to contain” the violations and “mobilized right away after this and in full coordination with the United States. And we have seen that the U.S. also is committed to the deal.”

Al-Thani said the Qataris had also “heard some discussions that Hamas are trying to delay the [release of hostage] bodies, and we made it very clear for them that this is part of the commitment that we need to be fulfilled.”

On the second phase of the deal, still yet to be finalized, Al-Thani said Hamas has agreed to relinquish governance of Gaza but is less committal about disarmament. “I don’t see that the governance will be a challenge, because this is something that we’ve been very clear with Hamas and Hamas’ response was also very clear to us that they are willing to give up the governance. The weapon question, from their perspective, this is an obligation on all the factions, not Hamas only,” he said.

The Qatari official called the Israeli strike on Hamas operatives in Doha last month “a shock for the entire world,” which was “the first time that an Israeli strike killed someone from the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council],” referring to the Qatari security officer killed in the strike who, according to Al-Thani, had served previously in the U.S. Embassy in Doha.

Al-Thani said he believes U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, who have stated they had no forewarning of the attack and detailed a call between Trump and the emir of Qatar the day after, where Trump told him “that this might represent an opportunity for us to put an end to the war in Gaza. … Although we had halted all the communication with the Israelis at that time, we remained engaged with the U.S. in order to make sure that we can get to a solution.”