Is Hamas being kicked out of Qatar or not? Reports emerged yesterday contradicting each other on this matter.
Qatar has withdrawn as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, and warned Hamas that its office in Doha “no longer serves its purpose,” senior diplomatic sources told Al Arabiya English TV network on Nov. 9. “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,” another source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), on condition of anonymity. “As a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose.”
The informed source said Qatar had already “notified both sides, Israel and Hamas as well as the U.S. administration” of its decision. “The Qataris conveyed to the U.S. 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.
Senior diplomatic sources confirmed to Al Arabiya English that Doha asked Hamas ten days ago to leave the country, because they refused to accept any ceasefire deal in Gaza. The diplomatic sources said the request was not due to U.S. demands or requests. “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,” a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Nov. 8.
The leadership of Hamas, meanwhile, said it has not received any official notification from the Qatari authorities about the need to leave the country, the Asharq TV channel reported, citing a spokesman. “We can neither confirm nor deny the information attributed to an unnamed diplomatic source. The movement has not received any official or direct request to leave Qatar,” the channel quoted the Hamas representative as saying, reported TASS.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari has denied information about the closure of the Hamas political bureau office in Doha, according to a separate TASS report. “The information about the Hamas office in Doha is not true,” the diplomat said, in a statement on his X page. He emphasized that the main purpose of locating the Hamas political bureau office in Doha was to maintain “a channel of communication between the parties concerned,” reported Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency. According to the spokesman, it was this channel of communication that ensured “the ceasefire in the previous stages.”
