DOHA: Hamas negotiators are not in Doha but their office has not been permanently closed, Qatar said on Tuesday following speculation that the Palestinian group had been ordered out of the Qatari capital.

“The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding: “The decision to … close down the office permanently, is a decision that you will hear about from us directly.”

Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, had led months of fruitless negotiations for a truce in the Gaza conflict, but the Gulf state announced earlier this month it was pausing its mediation efforts.

The announcement followed reports Qatar had warned Hamas that its political bureau, which the Gulf state has hosted since 2012 with the blessing of the United States, was no longer welcome.

“The mediation process right now … is suspended unless we take a decision to reverse that which is based on the positions of both sides,” Ansari said on Tuesday.

“The office of Hamas in Doha was created for the sake of the mediation process. Obviously, when there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn’t have any function,” he added, declining to confirm whether Qatar had asked Hamas officials to leave.

US issues warning to countries hosting members of Palestinian group, singling out Turkiye

A senior Hamas member said on Tuesday that a delegation led by the group’s chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya was “on a mission outside Qatar” and had not returned to the emirate.

The member refuted reports the Palestinian group had been asked to leave, saying “no party asked Hamas to leave any country where Hamas leaders are present, including Qatar”.

A second source close to Hamas said the members, including Al-Hayya, were in Turkiye after receiving an invitation “to discuss proposals and ideas related to stopping the war and exchanging prisoners”, but claimed the efforts had been “thwarted” by Israel.

Since a one-week pause in fighting last year brokered by Qatar, successive rounds of negotiations have made no headway.

Earlier in November, Hamas rejected a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term truce, as it did not offer a lasting ceasefire.

Israel has repeatedly vowed it will not stop fighting until it achieves its war objectives.

In April, Qatar said it was re-evaluating its mediation role during an impasse in negotiations, prompting several Hamas members to leave for Turkiye — only to return two weeks later at the request of the United States and Israel, when negotiations proved unworkable.

The United States issued a warning on Monday against countries hosting members of Hamas, singling out Turkiye.

West Bank attack

Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation near Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli security forces said.

A joint statement from the army, police and Shin Bet security agency said the three fighters died in an exchange of fire in Qabatiya village, where undercover border police attempted to arrest a wanted man.

“There are three bodies of martyrs that are now with the Israeli side, after they killed them,” local governor Kamal Abu al-Rub said, citing the office in charge of liaising between Israeli and Pales­tinian authorities in the West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry said the District Coordination Office had also informed it of the deaths of “three young men shot by Israeli forces near Qabatiya”, which is in the Jenin governorate. The three men were between 24 and 32 years old, a ministry statement said, identifying Raed Hanaysha as one of the dead.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024