Qatar says suspended mediation efforts on Gaza

In a statement on X on Saturday, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Qatar had informed the relevant parties 10 days ago of its intentions.

Earlier on Saturday, The Associated Press reported a diplomatic source as saying that Hamas’s political office in Qatar “no longer serves its purpose”.

However, al-Ansari said that reports regarding the Hamas political office in Doha were inaccurate, “stating that the main goal of the office in Qatar is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties”.

A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave”.

In Washington, DC, a US official said that the administration of United States President Joe Biden had informed Qatar two weeks ago that the continued operation of the Hamas office in Doha was no longer useful and the Hamas delegation should be expelled.

“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, [Hamas] leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” a US senior administration official said.

Qatar’s announcement comes after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a ceasefire deal.

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 43,500 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.