Qatar, in a significant shift in its policy, has asked the leaders of the militant group Hamas to leave the country following pressure from the US, reported Financial Times.
The request was reportedly made around 10 days ago after intense discussions with US officials, FT reported citing an unnamed official. Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political office in Doha since 2012, when Syria’s civil war forced it to leave its base in Damascus, and the US asked Qatar to open a channel of communication with the Palestinian group.
The US has informed Qatar that Hamas’ presence in Doha is “no longer acceptable” and that they should depart after the Palestinian militant group “rejected” the most recent request to reach a truce and a hostage agreement, news agency Reuters reported on Friday citing a senior administration official.
Along with the US and Egypt, Qatar has been a key player in the unsuccessful rounds of negotiations to negotiate a ceasefire for the year-long conflict in Gaza. Hamas rejected a short-term ceasefire plan at the most recent round of negotiations in mid-October, which resulted in no agreement.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the senior official told Reuters
US legislators have criticised Doha for its affiliation with the group.
Fourteen Republican US senators issued a letter to the Department of State on Friday, requesting that Washington immediately freeze the assets of Hamas officials residing in Qatar, extradite a number of top Hamas officials residing in Qatar, and tell Qatar “to end its hospitality to Hamas” senior leadership.
Over the past year, Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has said on several occasions that the Hamas office in Doha facilitates talks with the organisation and that Qatar will permit the office to continue operating as long as the channel remains operational.
The number of Hamas officials residing in Doha is unknown, but among them are a number of figures who were cited as potential successors to Yahya Sinwar, the organisation’s head who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.
Washington informed Doha that, after consulting with Qatar on the matter, the moment was right to close the group’s political office.
Qatar denied telling Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the nation, according to three Hamas officials cited by Reuters. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the foreign ministry spokesperson for Qatar.
It was unclear whether the Qataris gave the Hamas officials a deadline to depart the nation.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been getting ready to launch an effort to stop Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. Biden’s influence in his final weeks in office has been greatly reduced by the election of Republican Donald Trump as the next president of the United States this week.
Even after Hamas approved a version of a ceasefire proposal Biden presented in May, earlier rounds of ceasefire negotiations were hampered by differences over fresh demands Israel made regarding its future military presence in Gaza.
At the time, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters in August that Hamas believed Israel had changed the objective aim for a deal “last-minute,” and that whatever compromises it made would be retaliated against with new demands.
This course of negotiations in Doha resulted in a seven-day truce in Gaza last November, which allowed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for dozens of hostages held there. Additionally, humanitarian relief poured into the devastated coastal strip, but fighting quickly returned and has persisted ever since.
Since 2012, Hamas’ leadership leaders have been hosted by Qatar, a powerful Gulf nation Washington has named a major non-NATO partner, under an agreement with the United States.
There could be “no more business as usual” with Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told officials in Qatar and other parts of the Gulf after Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more in an October 7 attack on southern Israel last year.
Qataris assured Blinken they were willing to reevaluate Hamas’s status in the nation.
More than 43,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombings on the Gaza Strip, which also left the enclave in ruins and caused a humanitarian crisis.
(With Reuters inputs)
