Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday night that its efforts to broker a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas are “currently stalled”. It was reacting to earlier media reports. TASR reports according to a Reuters report and a statement from the Qatari Ministry.
“Ten days ago, during the latest efforts to reach an agreement, Qatar informed the parties involved that will halt its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement is not reached in this round,” said the State Department, which declared that efforts to broker an agreement would resume when “the parties show willingness and seriousness in their efforts to end the brutal war.”
A spokesman for the ministry said that media reports about the closure of the Hamas political office in Doha were inaccurate and that the office was an important communication channel that contributed to achieving the ceasefire in the previous stages and the exchange of hostages in November last year.
An unnamed diplomatic source previously said that Qatar has concluded that the political office of Hamas in Doha “is no longer fulfilling its purpose”. Qatar has hosted a Hamas office for more than a decade and allows many of the movement’s high-ranking officials to live in the country.
Until now, Qatar has acted as a mediator in negotiations between Hamas and Israel, along with the US and Egypt. However, an agreement on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip has not yet been concluded even after more than a year of war. There has also been no release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas militants after the terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas and Israel blame each other for the failure of the talks.
