Qatar suspends its mediation efforts on Gaza and the Hamas office there may have to leave

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Qatar suspended its key mediation efforts between Hamas militants and Israel , it 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, or where it would go. Hamas has good relations with Iran and Turkey, and some of its leaders are now in Lebanon.

However, Qatar is highly likely to return to mediation 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.



Palestinians gather Saturday at the site of an Israeli strike in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where displaced people live in tents, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. In Washington, a U.S.

official said the Biden administration informed Qatar two weeks ago that the Hamas office's continued operation 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 to suspend mediation efforts, "but no one told us to leave." Hamas calls for an end to the war and a full 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. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli prime minister's office had no comment. Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike Saturday in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon. There continued to be no end in sight to the 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 in Beirut suburbs and elsewhere.

An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre late Friday killed at least seven, officials and a resident said. Hezbollah "should continue (the fight) and we will continue to back them up even if we lose our families, our homes, and end up in the dirt," Beirut resident Mohammed Mekdad said as people searched the smoking rubble. Elsewhere in Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed 31 people, including five paramedics.

Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets on northern Israel and shot down a drone over southern Lebanon. A resident stands next to debris inside his house Saturday after it was struck by projectiles fired from Lebanon in Kfar Yasif, north west Israel. In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said.

One strike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City's eastern Tufah neighborhood, killing at least six people, the territory's Health Ministry said. Two journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, it said. Israel's army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, offering no evidence.

Palestinians gather Saturday at the site of an Israeli strike in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where displaced people live in tents, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Another Israeli strike killed seven including two women and a child in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel's army didn't respond to a request for comment.

An Israeli strike hit tents in the courtyard of central Gaza's main hospital, killing at least three people and wounding a journalist, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said. Meanwhile, Israel announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid in weeks to the territory's hungry, devastated north. Palestinian citizens of Israel protest Saturday in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

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 . The U.

S. says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said 11 aid trucks containing food, water and medical equipment reached the enclave's far north Thursday for the first time since Israel began a new military campaign last month.

Not all the aid reached the agreed drop-off points, the U.N. World Food Program said.

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. Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike Saturday in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon. The U.

N. estimates that tens of thousands of people remain in northern Gaza. This past week, the Health Ministry said there were no ambulances or emergency crews operating north of Gaza City.

The war began after Palestinian militants stormed Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others . About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.

“It has been 400 days and the hostages are still in Gaza. There is a war without a direction. It’s so sad,” said Eial Tiskim, who attended a protest Saturday night in Tel Aviv to demand a cease-fire deal.

Protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, call Saturday for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, marking 400 days since their capture. The war has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. They don't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

The conflict displaced 90% of Palestinians in Gaza, according to U.N. figures.

Hezbollah and Hamas are allied with Iran, and Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon the day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel conducted airstrikes and a ground invasion in Lebanon, where more than 3,000 people have been killed since.

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