Qatar suspends mediation efforts on Gaza, officials say

The move comes amid growing frustration with lack of progress on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Qatar has decided to suspend its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, officials said on Saturday.

However, Qatar is highly likely to return to the efforts if both sides show “serious political willingness” to reach a deal on the war in Gaza, according to one official with Egypt, the other key mediator.

A diplomatic source briefed on the matter said Israel and Hamas, along with the United States, were informed after the decision was made. The source added that “as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar.

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, a US official said the Biden administration 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.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not comment.

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

There continued to be no end in sight to Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, where Israel’s military said it struck command centres and other infrastructure overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

In Gaza, three separate Israeli attacks killed at least 16 people, including women and children, on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, while Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the territory’s hungry, devastated north.