DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Qatar has suspended key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israelsaid on Saturday after growing frustration over the lack of progress on the Gaza ceasefire deal.

It was not immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave or where it will go. Hamas has good relations with Iran and Turkey, and some of its leaders are now in Lebanon.

However, Qatar is highly likely to return to mediation efforts if both sides show “serious political will” to reach an agreement, 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 source. informed of the matter said. 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 it the latest ceasefire proposalQatar 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 taken in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and insists on a presence in Gaza.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not comment.

On Saturday night, the Qatar News Agency published comments attributed to Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, confirming that Doha had informed the parties in the talks 10 days ago that it would “stop its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel. if no agreement was reached in that round.”

“Qatar will resume these efforts with its partners when the parties demonstrate their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war and ongoing civilian suffering,” the report said.

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon continued with no end in sight, where the Israeli military said it had struck command centers and other militant infrastructure in the southern suburbs of Beirut and elsewhere. An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre Friday night killed at least seven, officials and a resident said.

Hezbollah “should continue (fighting) and we will continue to support them even if we lose our families, our homes and end up in the ground,” Beirut resident Mohammed Mekdad said as people searched the smoking rubble.

In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, as Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid within weeks to the starving and devastated north of the territory.

A strike 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 any evidence.

Another Israeli strike killed seven people, including two women and a child, in the southern town of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.

And an Israeli strike hit tents in the courtyard of the main hospital in central Gaza, killing at least three people and wounding a local journalist, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said. He was the eighth Israeli attack on the compound from March.

Israel says aid trucks are arriving in northern Gaza

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

But not all aid has reached the agreed points, according to the UN World Food Programme. 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.

Israel’s offensive has focused on Jabaliya, where Israel says Hamas has regrouped. Other affected areas include Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City.

US deadline looms for Israel

The help announcement came a few days before a US deadline demanding Israel 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.

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, the most isolated area of ​​the territory.

COGAT rejected these findings and said the report was based on “partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests”.

No emergency services operate north of Gaza City

The UN estimates that tens of thousands of people remain in northern Gaza. Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health said there were no ambulances or emergency crews operating north of Gaza City.

The conflict has left 90 percent of Gaza’s Palestinians displaced, according to UN figures.

More than a year of war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

The war started after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing an estimated 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and kidnapping another 250. About 100 hostages are still in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

“400 days have passed and the hostages are still in Gaza. There is a war without direction. It’s so sad,” said Eial Tiskim, who attended the latest protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a ceasefire.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Lee from Washington. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.

___

Follow AP’s war coverage at

(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)