Qatar to pause Gaza ceasefire mediation role: reports
Qatar will stop trying to mediate a Gaza Strip ceasefire and hostage release deal until Hamas and Israel show a “sincere willingness” to return to the negotiating table, an official briefed on the matter says in the biggest setback to efforts to reach a truce since the war began.
The small but influential Gulf country has also concluded that Hamas’ political office in Doha “no longer serves its purpose,” the official added, in a further blow to the Palestinian militant group whose top leaders have been assassinated by Israel.
Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, has played a major role in rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire to the year-long war in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages Hamas is holding in the enclave.
The latest round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.
“The Qataris have said since the start of the conflict that they can only mediate when both parties demonstrate a genuine interest in finding a resolution,” the official said.
Qatar has not set a deadline for Hamas’ political office to close or for Hamas leaders to leave Qatar and it was unclear if the move could be reversed.
Qatar informed Hamas, Israel and the US administration that it would be willing to resume its negotiating role if Hamas and Israel “demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiation table with the objective of putting an end to the war,” the official said.
A Palestinian official close to the mediation talks said: “Hamas may not comment unless it is informed officially by Qatar. So far it is media talk.”
The US had told Qatar that Hamas’ presence in Doha was no longer acceptable in the weeks since the group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a US official said on Friday.
Qatar’s government reconsidered Hamas’ presence in the country in April, which the official said prompted the group’s leaders to leave for Turkey.
“After two weeks, the Biden administration and the Israeli government asked Qatar to request their return,” the official said, adding that the US has said negotiations were ineffective when the Hamas leaders were in Turkey.
Qatar has hosted Hamas’ political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the US.
It is unclear how many Hamas officials live in Doha but they include several touted as possible replacements for leader Yahya Sinwar, whom Israeli forces killed in the Gaza Strip last month, including Sinwar’s deputy Khalil al-Hayya, who has led ceasefire negotiations for the group, and Khaled Meshaal, widely seen as Hamas’ diplomatic face.
The group’s previous leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran in July almost certainly by Israel, was also based in Doha.
In accordance with the directive from the political echelon and as part of the effort to increase the volume and routes of aid to Gaza, the IDF via @cogatonline and the Southern Command, is preparing to open the Kissufim crossing.The introduction of humanitarian aid through the… pic.twitter.com/JsW4MmnOvJ— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 8, 2024
Three Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said while Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the devastated northern part of the enclave.
There continued to be no end in sight to Israel’s campaigns against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip or Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel’s military said that it struck command centres and other militant infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City’s eastern Tufah neighbourhood, killing at least six people, the territory’s health ministry said.
Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, it said.
The Israeli army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, offering no details.
Seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to Nasser Hospital.
It said the dead included two women and a child.
And Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli strike hit tents in the courtyard of central Gaza’s main hospital, including one serving as a police point.
At least three people were killed and a local journalist was wounded, al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said.
The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said 11 aid trucks containing food, water and medical equipment reached the enclave’s far north on Thursday.
with AP
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