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Qatar has advised the leaders of Hamas to depart the nation following stress from Washington, in a major shift in coverage by the Gulf state.
The request was made round 10 days in the past after intense discussions with US officers, based on one particular person acquainted with the matter.
The gas-rich state has hosted Hamas’s political workplace in its capital, Doha, since 2012, when Syria’s civil battle pressured it to depart its base in Damascus, and the US requested Qatar to open a channel of communication with the Palestinian group.
Doha grew to become a vital interlocutor in hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas following the militant group’s lethal assault on southern Israel in October 2023, during which it killed 1,200 Israelis and took greater than 250 hostage, based on Israeli officers.
Israel’s ensuing offensive in Gaza has killed greater than 43,000 Palestinians, based on Palestinian officers.
Greater than 100 Israeli hostages have been freed in a deal final yr that Qatar helped dealer. However the talks have since been deadlocked, and Doha was advised that after the failure of “repeated proposals to launch hostages, [Hamas’s] leaders ought to not be welcome within the capitals of any American companion”, stated a senior Biden administration official.
“We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks in the past of one other hostage launch proposal,” the official stated.
The official added that whereas Qatar had performed a key function in attempting to barter a ceasefire and the discharge of the remaining Israeli hostages held by the militant group over the previous yr, “following Hamas’s repeated refusal to launch even a small variety of hostages, together with most lately throughout conferences in Cairo, their continued presence in Doha is not viable or acceptable”.
An individual acquainted with the matter stated Hamas figures in Qatar would relocate to Turkey. The nation has lengthy harboured Hamas political operatives and because the begin of the battle in Gaza, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been vocal in his help for the group.
Turkey’s overseas ministry didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Lately, Qatar has poured hundreds of thousands of {dollars} into Gaza — which Hamas has ruled because it seized management of the enclave in 2007 — to pay the salaries of civil servants and help struggling Palestinian households.
The nation’s picture was tarnished by its relationship with Hamas after the October 7 assault. However its function as a mediator in ceasefire talks attracted worldwide reward, and it efficiently brokered the discharge final yr of the greater than 100 Israeli hostages in trade for 240 Palestinian girls and kids held in Israeli jails.
However, annoyed by each side’ intransigence within the talks to finish the battle in Gaza and criticism of Qatar by politicians within the US and elsewhere, Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani stated in April that Doha was re-evaluating its function as mediator.
An Arab diplomat stated Hamas officers had lately visited international locations together with Turkey, Iran, Algeria and Mauritania, and mentioned the opportunity of relocating.
“Qatar hosted Hamas leaders within the first place after they bought a inexperienced mild from the Individuals. It’s logical to attempt to do away with them when the US place adjustments,” the diplomat stated.
Extra reporting by Adam Samson in Ankara
