Qatar announces the suspension of its mediation between Israel and Hamas

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar reported this Saturday that it is “paralyzing” its mediation efforts between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on the conflict in the Gaza Strip due to the lack of progress.

“Qatar notified the parties ten days ago, during the last attempt to reach an agreement, that it would paralyze its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round,” explained in an official note the spokesperson of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mayed bin Mohamed al Ansari.

Doha has indicated that “Qatar will resume these efforts with its partners when the parties demonstrate their will and seriousness to end the brutal war and the ongoing suffering of civilians caused by the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the Strip.”

When these conditions are met, “the State of Qatar will be on the front line, making all positive efforts to end the war and return the hostages and prisoners.” Thus, he stressed that “the information about Qatar’s withdrawal from mediation for a ceasefire in Gaza is not accurate.”

Al Ansari explained in statements to the Qatari news agency QNA that “Qatar does not accept that mediation is a reason for blackmail, as we have seen with the manipulation since the end of the first pause and the agreement to exchange women and children.” In particular, it reproaches the parties for having “recanted” from the obligations agreed upon in mediation and for having “taken advantage of the continuing negotiations to justify the war for spurious political purposes.”

Qatar reiterates in the statement its “firm commitment” to supporting the “brother Palestinian people” and the demand for “all their rights”, starting with an independent Palestinian state with the 1967 borders and its capital in East Jerusalem.

Al Ansari has also denied reports about the expulsion of the Hamas delegation in Doha. “The main objective of the (Hamas) office in Qatar is to serve as a communication channel between the parties involved and this channel has contributed to achieving the ceasefire in previous phases and has served to maintain calm in the Strip.” “In this context it is necessary to obtain information from official sources,” he argued.

Meanwhile, Hamas sources had previously denied that Qatar had reported that the group’s leadership was no longer welcome in the country, according to the Palestinian newspaper ‘Filastin’, which is related to the Islamist group.

These sources have indicated that Israeli public television Kan, the source of the information, had disseminated “unfounded” data that “seeks to generate confusion.” Kan had published recording American sources that Qatar had ordered the expulsion of Hamas leaders for rejecting an agreement by insisting on their demands for a complete and indefinite ceasefire and complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.

Since the October 7, 2023 attack in which Palestinian militias stormed into Israeli territory from Gaza and killed around 1,200 people, Qatar has been trying to mediate a ceasefire and the release of hostages with Egypt and the United States. .

The greatest achievement so far has been the November 2023 pause, which allowed the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners, but since then there has been no further progress and Israel continues its military offensive that has already claimed the lives of more than 43,000 Palestinians and has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.