Qatar has paused its mediation efforts for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement, stating Saturday that it will only resume when both Hamas and Israel demonstrate genuine commitment to negotiations, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The Gulf emirate, which has hosted Hamas' political leadership since 2012 with U.S. blessing, has been involved in months of protracted diplomacy aimed at ending Israel's genocidal war, triggered by the Palestinian group's Oct. 7 incursion of Israel last year.
But the talks, also mediated by Cairo and Washington, have repeatedly hit problems since a one-week truce in November 2023 – the only one so far. Each side has blamed the other for the impasse.
"Qatar notified the parties 10 days ago, during the last attempts to reach an agreement, that it would stall its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round," Doha's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed al Ansari, said in a statement.
"Qatar would resume those efforts ... when the parties show their willingness and seriousness," he added.
A diplomatic source told AFP earlier: "The Qataris informed both the Israelis and Hamas that as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith, they cannot continue to mediate."
With Gaza truce talks deadlocked, the Hamas political office in Doha "no longer serves its purpose," said the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Both Qatari and U.S. officials have indicated that Hamas would remain in Doha as long as its presence offered a viable channel of communication.
A senior Hamas official in Doha told AFP: "We have not received any request to leave Qatar."
Despite last November's truce, when scores of Hamas-held hostages were released, subsequent rounds of talks have failed to end the war.
The diplomatic source said Saturday that Qatar had "concluded that there is insufficient willingness from either side" to bridge the gaps in negotiations.
One crucial hurdle has been Hamas' insistence on a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, something Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected.
On the ground in the besieged Gaza Strip, the fighting showed no signs of abating on Saturday, the war's 400th day.
The territory's civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes had killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight, including nine at a tent camp in the southern area of Khan Younis.
Afaf Tafesh told AFP she had lost relatives in that strike.
"We have no food, no water, no place to sleep and we are all the time moving from place to place," she said.
Israel's military said its troops had killed dozens in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where it has conducted a sweeping air and ground operation for more than a month.
Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi visited Jabalia on Friday and told troops, "We are not stopping or slowing down.
He vowed "to bring back the hostages, to ensure security" for Israeli communities near the Gaza border, a statement from the military said.
A U.N.-backed assessment issued Saturday said famine is looming in northern Gaza because of a "rapidly deteriorating situation" with increased hostilities and a near-complete halt in food aid.
"Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future", said the alert from the Famine Review Committee.
The Hamas incursion caused 1,206 deaths, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's genocidal war has killed 43,552 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian resistance groups during the Oct. 7 incursion, 97 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israelis have protested every weekend, pressing their government to do more to secure the captives' release. Crowds again demonstrated Saturday in Tel Aviv.
Protester Ruti Lior said she was "very, very worried."
Qatar pulling back from mediation "is further proof to me that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is not really serious" about reaching a deal, the 62-year-old psychotherapist told AFP.
