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Qatar suspends mediation efforts in Gaza

Online Niel November 10, 2024

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Qatar has decided to suspend key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, officials said Saturday, as frustration grew over the lack of progress on a ceasefire agreement for Gaza.

It was not immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave.

However, Qatar is very likely to resume efforts if both sides show “serious political will” to reach a deal, according to an official with Egypt, the other key mediator.

Qatar has told Israel and Hamas that it cannot continue to mediate “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate an agreement in good faith” and “as a result, the political office of Hamas no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar, a diplomatic agent. said the source briefed on the matter. Qatar has told Hamas it will have to leave if it is not ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said.

In Washington, a US official said the Biden administration informed Qatar two weeks ago that the continued operation of the Hamas office in Doha was no longer useful and that the Hamas delegation should be expelled.

A senior US official said that after Hamas rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, Qatar accepted the advice and informed the Hamas delegation of the decision 10 days ago.

A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave.” Hamas has repeatedly called for an end to the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any ceasefire agreement. Israel seeks the return of all hostages and insists on a presence in Gaza.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it struck command centers and other militant infrastructure overnight in the southern suburbs of Beirut. An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tire has killed at least seven, officials and a resident said.

In Gaza, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said. Israel has announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the starving and devastated north of the territory.

One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in the Tufah neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, killing at least six people, the territory’s Health Ministry said. Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, without providing evidence or details.

Seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern town of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to Nasser Hospital. Two women and a child were said to be among the dead.

And Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli strike hit tents in the courtyard of central Gaza’s main hospital, including one that serves as a police post. At least three people were killed and a local journalist was wounded, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said.

The Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said on Saturday that 11 aid trucks containing food, water and medical equipment had arrived in the enclave’s far north on Thursday. It is the first time aid has reached the far north since Israel began a new military campaign there last month.

But not all the aid reached the agreed points, according to the UN’s World Food Programme, which was involved in the delivery process. In the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya, Israeli troops stopped a convoy heading to nearby Beit Lahiya and ordered supplies to be unloaded, WFP spokeswoman Alia Zaki said.

The aid announcement came days before a US deadline for Israel to improve aid deliveries to Gaza or risk losing access to US arms funding.

The US says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies.

Meanwhile, a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, released on Thursday said there is a high probability that famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza.

COGAT rejected the IPC’s conclusion and said the report was based on “partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests”.

More than a year of war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.

The war began after Palestinian militants entered Israel on October 7, 2023, killing an estimated 1,200 people and abducting another 250.

Information for this article was provided by Jack Jeffery of the Associated Press.

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. The placard in Arabic reads: “The head of the snake is America, Israel and the reactionary Arab.” (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa hospital, where displaced people live in tents, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)