Reports on Qatar pulling out of Gaza mediation 'inaccurate', official says

Qatar has clarified reports circulating that it is halting mediation efforts regarding Israel’s war on Gaza, saying it has only suspended their efforts and will be resuming when parties show "seriousness".

The official spokesperson for Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs, Majed Al-Ansari, reiterated that reports circulating that Qatar has backed out of its role in mediating are "inaccurate".

He added that they notified the parties involved ten days ago that they would suspend efforts in mediating between Hamas and Israel if agreements were not reached in that round, and they would resume again when the parties displayed "seriousness to end the brutal war and ongoing suffering of civilians".

If the parties showed seriousness in reaching a ceasefire deal, Al-Ansari said Qatar would once again "be at the forefront of making every effort to ending the war, returning the captives and prisoners".

Al-Ansari also issued a statement to Qatar’s News Agency (QNA) where he said the state of Qatar "will not accept that mediation be a reason for blackmailing, as we have witnessed manipulation since the collapse of the first truce…and a deviation from obligations that were agreed upon in mediation talks as well as exploitation of extending negotiations to justify continuing the war to serve narrow political purposes".

The spokesman said Qatar remains committed to supporting Palestinians in obtaining their rights and an independent state based on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

In his statement, he also stressed the importance of people obtaining their information from official sources, following various reports which stated that Qatar reportedly told Hamas their office in Doha "no longer serves its purpose".

"The main objective of [Hamas’] office’s presence in Qatar is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties. This channel has achieved a ceasefire in several previous stages, contributed to maintaining calm and resulted in the exchange of prisoners and captives, including women and children in November last year" he said, regarding reports that the Hamas office would be closed in Doha.

Qatar has hosted Hamas political leadership since 2012 in agreement with the US and has been involved in over a year of negotiations for a ceasefire following Israel’s war on Gaza.

The talks, which have also been mediated by the US and Egypt, have repeatedly stalled since a short truce agreed on in November 2023.

Hamas has demanded that Israel withdraw completely from Gaza, while Israel has rejected a permanent ceasefire to the conflict.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 43,552 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023 and wounded over 102,765 others in the same time frame. Israel has also killed at least 3,136 in Lebanon since October 2023.