Qatar withdrew from its role as key mediator for a ceasefire deal and release of hostages in Gaza after concluding that Hamas and Israel were unwilling to negotiate “in good faith”, a statement said. a diplomatic source told AFP on Saturday.

The Gulf emirate, which has hosted Hamas’ political leadership since 2012 with the blessing of the United States, has been involved in months of protracted diplomacy aimed at ending the war sparked by the Palestinian group’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

But the talks, also brokered by Cairo and Washington, have repeatedly encountered obstacles since a week-long truce in November 2023 – the only one so far – with the two sides trading responsibility for the impasse.

“The Qataris have informed the Israelis and Hamas that as long as there is a refusal to negotiate an agreement in good faith, they will not be able to continue mediation,” said the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity. .

The source added that Doha had already “notified both parties, Israel and Hamas, as well as the American administration” of its decision.

“The Qataris have informed the American administration that they would be ready to resume mediation when both parties (…) demonstrate a sincere desire to return to the negotiating table,” the source said.

There has been no official confirmation from Qatar and no comments from Egypt and the United States.

As Gaza truce negotiations stall, Hamas’ political office in Doha “no longer fulfills its role,” the source said, without specifying whether Qatar intends to ask the group’s leaders Palestinian to leave the country.

During discussions last year, Qatari and U.S. officials indicated that Hamas would remain in Doha as long as its presence provided a viable channel of communication.

A senior Hamas official in Doha told AFP that “we have not received any requests to leave Qatar.”

– ‘Insufficient will’ –

Despite last November’s truce, during which many hostages held by Hamas were freed, successive rounds of negotiations have failed to end the war.

In an effort to break the deadlock toward the end of U.S. President Joe Biden’s term and ahead of this week’s U.S. election, Washington and Doha announced new in-person talks last month to explore new options.

A Hamas official said earlier in November that the group had received a short-term truce proposal from Egypt and Qatar, but rejected it.

The diplomatic source said Saturday that Qatar had “concluded that there is not enough will on both sides” to bridge differences in the negotiations.

A crucial obstacle has been Hamas’s insistence that Israel completely withdraw from Gaza, which Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected.

The talks are now “more about politics and elections than a serious attempt to secure peace”, the source said.

On the ground in the besieged Gaza Strip, fighting showed no signs of slowing down on Saturday.

The territory’s civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at least nine people, including children and women, were killed in a strike that hit tents housing displaced Palestinians in the area. south of Khan Yunis, a death toll confirmed by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Another strike killed five people in the northern Gaza City, Bassal said.

The Israeli army said its troops had killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia region of northern Gaza, where it had been carrying out a large air and ground operation for more than a month.

– Famine in Gaza –

A UN-backed assessment released on Saturday says famine threatens in northern Gaza due to a “rapidly deteriorating situation” with intensifying hostilities and an almost complete halt to food aid.

“Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or will be crossed in the near future,” the Famine Review Committee alert said.

The Israeli military questioned the credibility of the report, denouncing “partial and biased data and superficial sources with vested interests.”

The Hamas attack that sparked the war left 1,206 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s campaign of retaliation has killed 43,552 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry and considered reliable by the United Nations.

Of 251 hostages captured by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 97 remain in Gaza, of whom 34 died according to the Israeli army.

The conflict spread to Lebanon, where Israel intensified its air campaign in September and later sent in ground troops after a year of cross-border clashes with Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said it attacked targets in northern Israel and shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said seven people, including two children, were killed in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Tire on Friday.

They are among more than 2,700 people killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to ministry figures.

Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, has warned the war could spread beyond the Middle East.

“The world must know that in the event of an expansion of war… insecurity and instability can spread to other regions, even very distant ones,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement. speech broadcast on state television.