According to the official, US “Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the message to Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in April”.
Qatar could shut down the political office of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas as part of a “broader review of its role as a mediator” with the Israeli government, Reuters news agency reported on Saturday.
Citing a US official, the Washington Post had reported on Friday that the decision was made on the request of the United States, as a way to put pressure on the resistance movement to accept a ceasefire proposal with Israel.
According to the official, US “Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the message to Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in April”.
NEWS
The United States has told Qatar that it should expel Hamas if the group continues to reject a cease-fire with Israel.
Some are concerned that if Hamas officials are evicted from Qatar and go a country that isn’t friendly with the United States that it could make… pic.twitter.com/UyEd4bponW
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 3, 2024
For its part, Reuters cited an official “familiar with the Qatari government’s reassessment” as saying that “if Qatar isn’t going to be mediating, they won’t see a point in keeping the political office. So that is a part of the reassessment”.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday for talks on a ceasefire proposal.
The US administration has accused Hamas of constituting an obstacle to the ceasefire while the Palestinian group has vehemently rejected this allegation.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that Hamas remains “the only obstacle between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” with Israel.
In response to Blinken’s remarks, the Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza said in a statement on Saturday that “the only obstacle to the ceasefire agreement is the unlimited American support for the Zionist entity and its leaders”.
“The statements of the criminal Secretary of State in the state of crime and terrorism in America regarding the ceasefire agreement, accusing Hamas and the Palestinian resistance of being the obstacle to reaching this agreement, are deceptive and a new and miserable attempt to pressure the resistance to accept any agreement,” the statement added.
‘Netanyahu is the Obstacle’ – Hamas Studies Ceasefire Proposal, Slams Blinken’s Comments
The statement also reiterated that Palestinian demands include “a complete cessation of aggression, the return of the displaced, reconstruction, and a prisoner exchange deal.”
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,654 Palestinians have been killed, and 77,908 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
