MIDDLE EAST
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- Qatar decided to suspend its key mediation efforts between Hamas militants 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 if 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 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.
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In Washington, a U.S. official said the Biden administration 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 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 , "but no one told us to leave."
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. The Israeli prime minister's office had no comment.
Hamas calls for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as conditions for a cease-fire deal. Israel seeks the return of all hostages taken in Hamas-led militants' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and insists on a presence in Gaza. On Saturday, protesters in Tel Aviv marked 400 days that the remaining hostages have been held captive in Gaza.
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 militant infrastructure overnight in some Beirut suburbs.
An Israeli airstrike late Friday on the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre left at least seven people dead, among them five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute, officials and a resident said Saturday. Elsewhere in Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed 31 people.
In Gaza, three separate Israeli strikes Saturday killed at least 16 people, Palestinian medical officials said. Two journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, the territory's Health Ministry said.
One strike hit a school-turnedshelter in Gaza City's eastern Tufah neighborhood, killing at least six people, Israel's army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group but offered no evidence.
Meanwhile, Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the territory's hungry, devastated north on Thursday. The announcement came days before a U.S. deadline demanding Israel improve aid deliveries across Gaza or risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.
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