Officials say Qatar has decided to suspend its mediation efforts on Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Qatar has decided to suspend its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, officials said Saturday, after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal for Gaza.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave.

However, Qatar is highly likely to return to the efforts if both sides show “serious political willingness” to reach a deal, according to an official with Egypt, the other key mediator.

Qatar told Israel and Hamas that it can’t continue to mediate “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith” and “as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose” in Qatar, a diplomatic source briefed on the matter said. Qatar told Hamas it will have to leave if it isn’t ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said.

In Washington, a U.S. official said the Biden administration had informed Qatar two weeks ago that the continued operation of the Hamas office in Doha was no longer useful and the Hamas delegation should be expelled.

A senior U.S. official said that after Hamas rejected the last proposal for a cease-fire, Qatar accepted the advice and informed the Hamas delegation of the decision 10 days ago.

A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave.” Hamas has repeatedly called for an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any cease-fire deal. Israel seeks the return of all hostages and insists on a presence in Gaza.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Israeli prime minister’s office had no comment.

There continued to be no end in sight to Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, where Israel’s military said it struck command centers and other military infrastructure overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs. An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre late Friday left at least seven dead, officials and a resident said.

In Gaza, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, while Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the territory.

The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said Saturday that 11 aid trucks containing food, water and medical equipment reached the enclave’s far north on Thursday. It’s the first time any aid has reached the far north since Israel began a new military campaign there last month.

But not all the aid reached the agreed drop-off points, according to the the U.N. World Food Program, which was involved in the delivery process. In the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya, Israeli troops stopped one convoy bound for nearby Beit Lahiya and ordered the supplies to be offloaded, WFP spokesperson Alia Zaki said.

The aid announcement came days before a U.S. deadline demanding that Israel improve aid deliveries across Gaza or risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.

The U.S. says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies.