Qatar suspends role as mediator between Israel and Hamas
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Qatar has suspended its efforts as a mediator in negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, the Qatari foreign ministry said.
The Gulf country would resume its work when Hamas and Israel “show their willingness” to negotiate, the ministry said in a statement on X.
Qatar has been working alongside the U.S. and Egypt for months to facilitate talks between the warring sides in the Gaza Strip.
The move to pause its mediator role comes after senior U.S. officials reportedly said Washington would no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian militant group of rejecting fresh proposals for an end to the war in Gaza.
The Qatari statement said media reports on the future of the Hamas political office in Doha were “inaccurate” without specifying how.
“Qatar notified the parties 10 days ago during the last attempts to reach an agreement, that it would stall its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round,” the ministry said in Saturday’s statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden last month had urged the Israeli government to use the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as “an opportunity” to end the war in Gaza, calling it “a moment of justice.”
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed dozens of people on Sunday in Lebanon and northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging a major offensive for more than a month.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people in the village of Aalmat, north of Beirut and far from the areas in southern and eastern Lebanon where the militant Hezbollah group has a major presence, the Associated Press reported. In northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people, according to the director of a nearby hospital that received the bodies, the AP reported.
