By Andrew Mills and Nidal al-Mughrabi
DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Qatar has told Palestinian terror group Hamas and Israel it will suspend efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release until they show “willingness and determination” to resume talks, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. .
The Gulf state has been working with the United States and Egypt for months on fruitless talks between the warring parties in Gaza and any disengagement from that process could further derail efforts to reach an agreement.
The Qatari ministry also said that media reports on the future of the Hamas political office in Doha were incorrect without specifying how. Reuters on Friday quoted an American official as saying that Washington had asked Qatar to expel the group and that Doha had conveyed this message to Hamas.
An official briefed on the matter also said on Saturday that Qatar has concluded that since its mediation efforts have been suspended, the Hamas political office there “is no longer serving its purpose.”
But three Hamas officials who spoke off the record said the group had not been told by Qatar that its leaders were no longer welcome in the country.
Qatar has hosted the political leaders of Hamas since 2012 as part of an agreement with the US, and the group’s presence there has facilitated further negotiations.
The war broke out when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7 2023, they killed about 1,200 people and took another 253 as hostages. Israel’s military operation has invaded most of Gaza and killed an estimated 43,500 Palestinians.
“Qatar informed the parties ten days ago during the last efforts to reach an agreement that it will stop its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement is not reached in this round,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar.
“Qatar will resume those efforts with its partners when the parties show their willingness and determination to end the brutal war.”
There has been no official response from Hamas or Israel.
The latest round of talks in mid-October failed to produce an agreement, with Hamas rejecting a proposal for a temporary ceasefire. Israel has rejected other proposals for long-term agreements. The disagreement centers on the long-term future of Hamas and Israel’s presence in Gaza.
HAMAS IN QATAR
Washington has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the group rejected the October proposal, a US official said on Friday.
Qatar has not set a deadline for the Hamas political office to be closed or for Hamas leaders to leave Qatar, the official said briefly on the matter.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the Hamas office was a channel of communication between the groups in Gaza and said it had contributed to a brief ceasefire and hostage exchange last year.
This official elaborated on this issue and pointed to an episode last April when Qatar reconsidered the presence of Hamas in that country, which led to some Hamas officials heading to Turkey.
“After two weeks, the Biden administration and the Israeli government asked Qatar to request their return,” the official said, adding that Washington said the talks were not working while Hamas leaders were in Turkey.
Qatar, designated as a major non-NATO ally by Washington, has long sought a role as a link between Western powers and their adversaries in the region.
The country hosts the largest US air base in the Middle East but also allows Hamas and the Taliban in Afghanistan to operate offices in Doha. It also helped negotiate a prisoner exchange between the US and Iran last year.
It is not clear how many Hamas officials live in Doha, but they include several potential replacements for leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.
They include Sinwar’s deputy Khalil al-Hayya, who led the group’s ceasefire talks, and Khaled Meshaal, widely seen as Hamas’ diplomatic face.
The group’s former leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran in July in an apparent Israeli attack, is also based in Doha. His body was sent to Qatar for burial in early August.
