Qatar decides to suspend its role as mediator in negotiations between Israel and Hamas

Qatar’s patience appears to have reached its limits. While the country has been participating, for months, with the United States and Egypt, in negotiations between Israel and Hamas with the aim of concluding a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, associated with a liberation hostages, Doha announced on Saturday November 9 that it was suspending its mediation, referring the belligerents to their responsibilities.

At the end of October, “during the last [négociations] In an attempt to reach an agreement, Qatar informed the parties that it intended to suspend its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached during this round.Qatar foreign affairs spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said in a statement. “Qatar will take them back when the parties demonstrate willingness and seriousness” to end hostilities, he added, while Hamas and Israel accuse each other of blocking any agreement.

The only truce in this war, triggered on October 7, 2023 by a Hamas attack against Israel, saw the light of day at the end of November 2023. It lasted a week and allowed the release of hostages kidnapped during the attack and taken to the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas office remains open in Doha

Doha specifies that it has prepared the ground for such a decision. According to a diplomatic source, the Qataris would have previously “informed the Israelis and Hamas that as long as both sides refused to negotiate an agreement in good faith, they could not continue to play the role of mediator”.

Furthermore, they “have indicated to the US administration that they would be prepared to re-engage in mediation when both parties (…) will demonstrate a sincere desire to return to the negotiating table”added this source.

According to Qatar’s foreign affairs spokesperson, there is no question of closing the Hamas office in Doha, whose objective “is to be a channel of communication between the parties concerned”.

Famine thresholds “may be crossed” in Gaza, says UN

Meanwhile, at 400^e day of the conflict started by Hamas, the war knows no respite in the Gaza Strip, where the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants are besieged and live in disastrous conditions, according to the UN. On Saturday, fourteen Palestinians died in Israeli strikes on sites housing displaced people in Gaza City and Khan Younes, according to civil defense.

The attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023 led to the death of 1,206 people, mainly civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 97 remain hostages in the Gaza Strip, including 34 declared dead by the army. The Israeli retaliatory offensive left 43,552 people dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas health ministry.

On Saturday, the UN warned in a report that “the famine thresholds may have already been crossed or will be in the near future” in Gaza. A judged report ” biased “ by Israel.

“We won’t stop (…) It’s about bringing back the hostages (…) »declared Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, during a trip to Jabaliya, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Exchanges of fire continue between Israel and Hezbollah

The Israeli army is also continuing its offensive in Lebanon, where it claims to be targeting Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. On Saturday, twenty people were killed in Israeli strikes in the east of the country and thirteen others, including seven rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal, in raids in the south of the country, according to the health ministry. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for rocket attacks against northern Israel.

More than 2,700 people have died in Lebanon since September 23, the majority civilians, according to the Ministry of Health.

Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return home of 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced for a year by the conflict.