With efforts to pause the war – which has been a top priority for President Joe Biden – firmly stalled, US officials informed their Qatari counterparts about two weeks ago that they must stop giving Hamas refuge in their capital; Qatar agreed and gave Hamas notice about a week ago, sources said.
“Hamas is a terrorist group that has killed Americans and continues to hold Americans hostage,” a senior administration official told CNN.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” the source added.
Throughout the course of the war and negotiations to bring the hostages home, US officials have asked Qatar to use the threat of expulsion as leverage in their talks with Hamas. The final impetus for Qatar agreeing to kick Hamas out came recently after the death of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Hamas’ rejection of yet another ceasefire proposal.
Qatar has been a major player in endeavours over the past year to try to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, in no small part because senior members of the group are based in Doha. Major negotiations have taken place in the Qatari capital for that reason.
Exactly when Hamas operatives would be exiled out of Qatar – and where they would go – are unclear. One US official told CNN the group has not been given an extended amount of time to leave the country. While Turkey is seen as a possible option, the US is not likely to approve of that scenario for the same reasons that it does not want Qatar to give refuge to Hamas leadership.
Dozens of hostages taken from Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks are still being held in the besieged enclave. There are 101 hostages still held in the blockaded strip, Israeli authorities say, but as many as one-third of them are thought to be dead.
Israel has continued its military onslaught on Gaza following the attack by Hamas, despite a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
More than 43,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 102,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli offensive has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
Mediation bids to reach a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.
