Qatar suspends Gaza mediation, in sign of impasse

France’s President Emmanuel Macron (R) attends a meeting with Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi (L), Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal bin Farhane (2L), Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani (3L) and Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry (4L) for talks on the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, on May 24, 2024. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

DOHA — Qatar has suspended its role as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in talks, the foreign ministry said Saturday.

The Gulf emirate, which has hosted Hamas’s political leadership since 2012 with US blessing, has been involved in months of protracted diplomacy aimed at ending the war triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on 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.

READ: Gaza ceasefire talks start in Qatar as war toll tops 40,000 dead

“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 spokesman 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.

READ: Blinken regrets Hamas rejection in new truce bid

Both Qatari and US 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”.

400 days of war

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’s insistence that Israel withdraw completely 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 Yunis.

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 of terrorists” in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where it has conducted a sweeping air and ground operation for more than a month.

Visiting Jabalia on Friday, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi 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 UN-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 Israeli military said the report relied on “partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests”.

Lebanon fighting

The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,552 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 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 commercial hub 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.

The conflict has expanded to Lebanon, where Israel intensified its air campaign in September and later sent in ground troops after a year of cross-border clashes with Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported at least 20 killed in Israeli strikes on the east and another 13 in the south, including seven rescuers affiliated to Hezbollah and its ally Amal.

Hezbollah said Saturday it had attacked targets in northern Israel and downed an Israeli drone over south Lebanon.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to ministry figures.

Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, warned that the war could spread beyond the Middle East.

“The world should know that in case of the expansion of war… insecurity and instability can spread to other regions, even far away,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech aired on state TV.