Qatar is withdrawing from mediation between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement after months of failed efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip, a diplomatic source said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity, Reuters and AFP reported.
He said Hamas’s political office in Doha “no longer has a reason to exist,” without specifying whether the office would be closed.
“The Qataris have informed the Israelis and Hamas that as long as both sides refuse to negotiate a deal in good faith, Qatar cannot continue its role as mediator,” the source said.
As a result, Hamas’ political office (in Doha) no longer has a reason to exist, he added.
A Hamas official, however, told AFP that the Palestinian movement had not received “any request to leave Qatar.”
“We have nothing to confirm or deny from what the unidentified diplomatic source said and we have not received any request to leave Qatar,” a Hamas official in Doha said.
With the United States and Egypt, Qatar has been mediating between the two warring parties since a week-long ceasefire in the conflict in November 2023 that allowed for the release of Gaza hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Since then, there have been many meetings of negotiations without any results.
Hamas and Israel have accused each other of blocking any agreement, with each side rejecting the other’s terms for a ceasefire in the war that began with a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to a diplomatic source, Qatar has already “informed both sides – Israel and Hamas, as well as the US administration” of its decision.
“The Qataris have indicated to the US administration that they would be ready to re-engage in mediation when both sides (…) show a sincere desire to return to the negotiating table,” he said.
The gas-rich emirate of Qatar, an ally of the United States, has hosted a Hamas political office for more than a decade, and Qatar is also home to the Palestinian movement’s former leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel.
The Hamas office in Qatar was “opened in 2012 in coordination with the US government at its request to have a channel of communication” with the movement, a Qatari official explained at the start of the war.
The office was “used for coordinated mediation with several US administrations to stabilize the situation in Gaza and Israel,” he added.
