Qatar has given up trying to mediate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas until they show a willingness to actually negotiate, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Reuters news agency this Saturday (9).
The decision comes after months of unsuccessful efforts by the country to end the war in the Gaza Strip – it acted to mediate dialogue between the hostile parties alongside the United States and Egypt.
The only time they agreed to a truce was a year ago, however, when more than a hundred people kidnapped by Hamas amid the October 7 attacks returned to their homes. In return, Israel released 210 Palestinian women and children prisoners.
The Gulf country also concluded, according to the person who spoke to Reuters, that Hamas’s political office in Doha “no longer serves its purpose.”
There is no confirmation that the space will be officially closed. A member of Hamas leadership told AFP that the group had not received “any requests to leave” Doha, where the office has been operating since 2012.
Qatar communicated the decision to both parties and the US government, of which it is an ally. The Middle Eastern country also sent signals that it could return to negotiations if the parties show more openness to dialogue.
The war in the Gaza Strip completed one year last month. The conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, when an attack by the Islamic terrorist group in southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand people.
The Israeli response in the Palestinian territory has since left more than 43,000 people, according to calculations by local health authorities linked to Hamas.
