Qatar halts its Israel-Hamas mediation efforts, citing lack of ‘good faith’

Qatar has decided to suspend its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, officials said Saturday, after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal for Gaza.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave.

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

Qatar told Israel and Hamas that it can't continue to mediate “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith” and "as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar, a diplomatic source briefed on the matter said. Qatar told Hamas it will have to leave if it isn't ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said.

In Washington, a U.S. 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.

A senior U.S. official said that after Hamas rejected the last proposal for a cease-fire, Qatar accepted the advice and informed the Hamas delegation of the decision 10 days ago.

A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave.” Hamas has repeatedly called for an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any cease-fire deal. Israel seeks the return of all hostages and insists on a presence in Gaza.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Israeli prime minister’s office had no comment.

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 centers and other militant infrastructure overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs. An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre late Friday left at least seven dead, officials and a resident said.

Hezbollah “should continue [the fight] and we will continue to back them up even if we lose our families, our homes, and end up in the dirt,” said one Beirut resident, Mohammed Mekdad, as people searched the smoking rubble.

In Gaza, three separate Israeli strikes 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.

One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City’s eastern Tufah neighborhood, killing at least six people, the territory's Health Ministry said. Two local journalists, a pregnant woman, and a child were among the dead, it said. Israel's army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, offering no evidence or details.

Seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to Nasser Hospital. It said the dead included two women and a child. The Israeli army didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

And Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli strike hit tents in the courtyard of central Gaza’s main hospital, including one serving as a police point. At least three people were killed and a local journalist was wounded, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said. It was the eighth Israeli attack on the compound since March.

This story was reported by the Associated Press. Samy Magdy reported from Cairo and Matthew Lee from Washington. Jack Jeffery contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.