Qatar Ends Efforts To Mediate an End to Hamas-Israel Conflict

Qatar has suspended its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, it said Saturday, after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal for Gaza.It wasn’t immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave, or where it would go. Hamas has good relations with Iran and Turkey, and some of its leaders are now in Lebanon.However, Qatar is highly likely to return to mediation efforts if both sides show “serious political willingness” to reach a deal, according to an official with Egypt, the other key mediator.Qatar told Israel and Hamas it can’t continue to mediate “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith” and “as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar, a diplomatic source briefed on the matter said. Qatar told Hamas it will have to leave if it isn’t ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said.In Washington, an American official said the Biden administration informed Qatar two weeks ago that the Hamas office’s continued operation in Doha was no longer useful and the Hamas delegation should be expelled.A senior American official said that after Hamas rejected the last proposal for a cease-fire, Qatar accepted the advice and informed the Hamas delegation of the decision 10 days ago.A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave.” Hamas has repeatedly called for an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any cease-fire deal. Israel seeks the return of all hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and insists on a presence in Gaza.Late Saturday, the state-run Qatar News Agency published comments attributed to Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, confirming that Doha informed parties in the talks 10 days ago that it “would stall its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round.”“Qatar will resume those efforts with its partners when the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war and the ongoing suffering of civilians,” the report said.There continued to be no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, where Israel’s military said it struck command centers and other militant infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs and elsewhere.

Qatar Ends Efforts To Mediate an End to Hamas-Israel Conflict

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