Qatar pauses role as mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks, citing deadlock

Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, announced Saturday night that it had paused its efforts to broker a cease-fire between the sides to end the war in the Gaza Strip, citing the deadlock in talks.

“Qatar will resume those efforts with its partners when the parties show willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war,” Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

Earlier, Qatari officials also told Hamas political leaders they were no longer welcome in the country because of the stalled state of negotiations, U.S. and Israeli officials said over the weekend. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Al-Ansari did not directly comment on the claim about Hamas’ presence in the country. Before the ministry’s statement was issued, an official familiar with the matter said that Qatar had decided that the political office maintained by Hamas in the capital, Doha, no longer served its purpose because of the stalled negotiations.

In the Foreign Ministry statement, al-Ansari said news media reports about the Hamas office were “inaccurate,” without specifying which reports or what information was disputed. “The main goal” of the office in Qatar “is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties, and this channel has contributed to achieving a cease-fire in previous stages,” the statement said.

It was far from clear if Qatar would actually evict Hamas leaders from Doha or declare the office closed without expelling officials from the country. The tiny Gulf state has gained outsize influence from its role as a gateway to actors like Hamas, with whom most Western countries have no formal ties.

But the Qatari threats appeared to be at least an attempt to increase pressure on Hamas and Israel to compromise on terms for a cease-fire and to free the remaining hostages in Gaza after more than a year of war.

Qatar has hosted Hamas’ exiled political leaders since 2012, making Doha a focal point for negotiations with Israel to end the war and free the hostages. Egypt, which borders Gaza, is the other major mediator between the sides.

Hamas officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Hamas has long insisted on a permanent end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza before it would agree to release any remaining hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas’ destruction in Gaza, and has suggested Israeli forces would have to remain in parts of the enclave during any cease-fire.

Netanyahu has repeatedly changed his conditions for a deal, and his critics in Israel have accused him of prioritizing his political survival over freeing the hostages. His hard-line coalition allies have called for indefinite Israeli rule in Gaza and opposed previous truce proposals that would have ended the campaign against Hamas.

Being forced to leave Qatar – where some Hamas leaders have been based for over a decade, often alongside their families – would be another blow to Hamas.

Israel has methodically eliminated many of the group’s political and military leaders since the war began in October 2023, with the Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Over the past year, Israel has killed two of Hamas’ political chiefs and the leader of its armed wing, as well as dozens of lower-ranking officials.

Last month, Israeli soldiers killed the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, in a firefight in the southern Gaza Strip. Diplomats and analysts said Sinwar – one of the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack – had dominated Hamas’ decision-making, leaving its future direction unclear.

The Hamas office in Doha was established over a decade ago to create a point where negotiations could be conducted with the group, which the United States and other countries consider a terrorist organization.

But if it became clear that the office in Doha was not facilitating talks toward peace or easing suffering in the region, then there would be no reason for such an office to remain, according to a senior defense official from one of the countries mediating between Israel and Hamas. That message was conveyed to Hamas in recent weeks.

Expelling Hamas could be a double-edged sword for Qatar. Pressuring Hamas’ political leaders could compel them show more flexibility in talks with Israel, but it could also reduce Qatar’s importance in the talks should they move to another regional hub.

Two weeks ago, after the death of Sinwar but before the U.S. election, the Biden administration asked Qatar to kick Hamas out of Doha, according to people briefed on the discussions.

U.S. frustration with Hamas has been growing since militants from the group executed Hersh Goldberg, an American hostage held in Gaza, and five other captives, U.S. officials said. The killing of Goldberg convinced many in the Biden administration that Hamas was not serious about reaching a cease-fire deal.

After the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against Khaled Meshal, a Hamas leader based in Doha, in September, some officials began urging more vociferously for Hamas to be removed from Qatar, U.S. officials said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.