Qatar withdraws as mediator between Israel and Gaza, officials say

Qatar has decided to suspend its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel citing frustrations over the lack of progress over a ceasefire deal, officials have said.
It is not immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave the country.
However, Qatar is highly likely to return to the efforts if both sides show “serious political willingness” to reach a deal, according to an official with Egypt, the other key mediator.
Qatar told Israel and Hamas that it can’t continue to mediate “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith” and “as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar, a diplomatic source briefed on the matter said.
Qatar told Hamas it will have to leave if it isn’t ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said.
In Washington, a US official said the Biden administration had informed Qatar two weeks ago that the continued operation of the Hamas office in Doha was no longer useful and the Hamas delegation should be expelled.
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 a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any ceasefire deal. Israel seeks the return of all hostages and insists on a presence in Gaza.
There continued to be no end in sight to Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, where Israel’s military said it struck command centers and other militant infrastructure overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre on Friday left at least seven dead, officials said.
In Gaza, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, while Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the territory’s hungry, devastated north.
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