The Qatari government has informed the US and Israel it will stop mediation efforts to halt the conflict in Gaza because it no longer thinks the parties are negotiating in good faith.
The Gulf state has concluded that talks have become a political football, and its efforts to facilitate them were generating criticism towards it, according to a diplomatic source briefed on the situation.
“As long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith, they cannot continue to mediate,” the source said.
Qatar’s move is the latest major blow to a faltering effort to end fighting in Gaza which has not produced significant results since a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal nearly a year ago.
But with a new US administration taking power in just over two months, the Qataris have also made clear to US contacts that they would be willing to resume mediation if both sides showed a “sincere willingness” to reach a deal.
Qatar informed Israel, Hamas officials, the US and Egypt of the decision after a US delegation including the CIA director, Bill Burns, visited Doha for inconclusive meetings in late October.
Its government had concluded that the warring parties were focused on “political optics” rather than genuine security concerns, the diplomatic source said, and had tried to undermine the process “by backing out from some of the commitments”.
This is the second time that Qatar has warned publicly that it is not prepared to play host to dead-end talks indefinitely.
In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, Qatar said that widespread media reporting of a planned closure of the Hamas political office in Doha were wrong.
The office was a useful channel of communication between “concerned parties”, Qatar said.
In April Doha had briefly asked Hamas commanders to leave the country, after the prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, announced Qatar was going to review its mediation role.
They headed to Turkey but within weeks Israel and the US government had asked Qatar to bring them back in order to intensify negotiations. The Qataris are trusted by senior figures on both sides and have a long track record in mediation.
The Hamas office in Doha was opened in 2012, at the request of the Obama administration. For over a decade it has provided a key channel of communication to the group, including during talks last year to agree a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of evermore than 100 hostages.
However, since that agreement in November 2023, talks aimed at reaching a second deal have repeatedly collapsed, and Qatar has come under increasing criticism in Israel and from parts of the US political establishment for hosting Hamas.
A group of Republican US senators on Friday asked Washington to seek the extradition of Hamas officials in Qatar and freeze their assets.
These attacks, on an initiative launched at the US’s request, rankled in Doha and contributed to Qatar’s decision to distance itself from Hamas and peace talks.
“Qatar also advised the US administration and both parties that it would not accept being subjected to political exploitation aimed at gaining political leverage at Qatar’s expense while misleading public perception,” the source said.
US officials have briefed American media outlets that Washington had requested the closure of the Hamas office, but the Biden administration has not commented publicly.
The Qataris told Washington that they would be willing to pick up their mediation role again “when both sides reach an impasse and demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiating table with the objective of putting an end to the war and the suffering of civilians”.
Qatar is a close US ally, hosts a major military base, and its diplomats had a good relationship with Donald Trump during his first presidential term.
The state also hosted a political office for the Taliban, then an insurgent movement, and facilitated talks with Trump’s administration on a deal to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
Hamas leaders have been preparing for many months to leave Doha, and Turkey and Iraq have been suggested as possible alternatives. The group recently opened a political office in Baghdad.
Western and regional politicians and diplomats who favour allowing Hamas to stay in Qatar warned that if it is pushed out, it will hinder engagement with Hamas figures potentially more inclined to compromise, and could allow more hostile states such as Iran to boost their hold over the group.
The request to Qatar comes amid a flurry of activity as the Biden administration prepares a final effort to end Israeli assaults in Gaza and Lebanon before handing over power to Donald Trump, who has said he too wants to see an end to the conflict. However, there is no immediate sign that any breakthrough is possible.
