Qatar has suspended its role as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, saying both sides were unwilling to negotiate “in good faith”, as air strikes continued on Saturday in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
The emirate has hosted Hamas’ political leadership since 2012 and has sought to bring both sides to the table since the October 7 attacks last year.
“The Qataris informed both the Israelis and Hamas that as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith, they cannot continue to mediate,” a diplomatic source told news wire AFP.
“The Qataris conveyed to the US administration that they would be ready to re-engage in mediation when both sides … demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiating table,” the source added.
It is not clear what ramifications this will have for Hamas’ political office that is based in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
A senior Hamas official in Doha told AFP that “we have not received any request to leave Qatar”.
In response, the Qatari foreign ministry said the reports were not accurate but that mediation talks between the two sides were “currently on hold”.
A spokesperson for the ministry added that ceasefire talks would resume “when there is enough seriousness to end this brutal war,” according to Reuters.
Israeli bombardment kills 44 in Gaza
Palestinian health authorities say 44 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Friday and Saturday.
Palestinians were seen mourning following strikes at a hospital in southern Gaza. (Reuters: Hatem Khaled)
Among those mourning on the weekend was Mohammed Zanoun, who said he was the relative of children killed in an Israeli rocket strike on Friday.
“The rocket struck them. There were no wanted or targeted people there and there was nobody else in the street,” he told Reuters.
“Just the children who were killed yesterday.”
He said the children were getting ready to play soccer.
Strikes on Friday night and on Saturday morning killed four people east of Gaza City, including two journalists, four in a house in Beit Lahiya, two in a tent at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, and four in a tent in Abassan near Khan Younis, medics said.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond on Saturday to a request for comment on strikes on areas where displaced people were sheltering.
It has denied United Nations Human Rights Office claims that 70 per cent of the 43,500 people killed in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel were woman and children.
It has previously said Hamas fighters hide among the civilian population and it hits them when it sees them. Hamas denies hiding among civilians.
The Israeli military has intensified its campaign in the Gaza Strip, claiming Hamas is seeking to regroup in the enclave’s north.
Israel launched its offensive in response to the attack on October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed border defences and rampaged through Israeli communities killing 1,200 people and seizing around 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli strikes kill at least 20 in Lebanon
Israel’s military is conducting a two-front war, with troops fighting both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Over the past day, the [Israeli Air Force] struck over 50 terror targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.
“Among the targets struck were military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers.”
The Lebanese health ministry said 31 people were killed and 14 wounded in Saturday’s strikes, according to Reuters.
On Friday, seven people were killed and 46 injured after Israeli strikes on the city of Tyre, along Lebanon’s coast, according to the country’s health ministry.
It said two children were among those killed.
In the city of Baalbek, at least 16 people were killed by Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Israel’s military said in a statement that it was targeting “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in both Baalbek and Tyre.
In central parts of Israel, air sirens were activated on Saturday following reports that a hostile aircraft had infiltrated its airspace.
Reuters/AFP