DUBAI:

Qatar has suspended its role as a key mediator for a ceasefire deal and release of hostages in Gaza after concluding that Hamas and Israel were not willing to negotiate “in good faith”, Israel said on Saturday. AFP a diplomatic source.

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 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,” added the source.

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.”

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

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.

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, including nine in a tent camp in the southern area of ​​Khan Yunis.

Afaf Tafesh told AFP that she had lost loved ones in this strike.

“We have no food, no water, no place to sleep and we are constantly moving from one place to another,” she 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.

Visiting Jabalia on Friday, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi told troops that “we are neither stopping nor slowing down,” promising to “bring back the hostages, to ensure the safety” of Israeli communities near the Gaza border, according to an army statement.

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 said the report relied on “partial and biased data and superficial sources with vested interests.”