DOHA, November 19. /TASS/. The leaders of the Hamas political bureau aren’t currently in Doha but the Palestinian movement in the Qatari capital has not been shut down permanently, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, according to a TASS correspondent.
"I will be clear: the Hamas leaders who are part of the negotiating team aren’t currently in Doha. As you know, they keep traveling between capitals," he noted, when asked if the Qatari authorities had asked the Hamas leaders to leave the country.
"The Doha office was created for mediation purposes. Clearly, when there are no mediation activities, the office itself doesn't have any function," the diplomat went on to say.
"As for mediation efforts [to resolve the situation in the Gaza Strip], they have been suspended for the time being, unless we make a decision [on resuming the process] based on the positions of both parties and their willingness to engage in talks with a positive attitude," the Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson stressed.
"We don’t see any reason for the [Hamas] office to be here in Doha. However, any decision to close it down permanently is what you will hear about from us directly, and it shouldn't be part of media speculation," Al-Ansari emphasized.
The Financial Times reported earlier, citing sources, that after facing pressure from the US, Qatar had asked Hamas leaders to leave the country as the movement had repeatedly rejected mediators’ proposals for the release of Israeli hostages as part of Gaza ceasefire talks. On November 9, Al-Ansari dismissed reports of the shutdown of the Hamas office in Doha, saying that its only goal was to maintain "a channel of communication between the interested parties."
The Hamas political office was set up in Doha in 2012, when the movement’s leaders had to leave their headquarters in Damascus due to the Syrian civil war. Qatar granted asylum to Hamas leaders.
On November 18, the Times of Israel newspaper reported, citing an unnamed Arab diplomat that senior Hamas officials left Qatar for Turkey last week after Doha had announced the suspension of Gaza talks. Later, Hamas dismissed the report.
In late November 2023, a temporary humanitarian ceasefire was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, which lasted for a week. During this time, 110 hostages were released, according to Israel. On December 1, the ceasefire was violated and hostilities resumed. Several rounds of consultations involving Qatar, the US and Egypt were held in August but the parties to the conflict failed to reach a deal.
On October 27-28, Doha hosted another round of consultations on the Gaza Strip, which involved David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, and US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns. However, the parties once again failed to agree on the conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza.