Qatar has reportedly begun to exert pressure and Hamas is calling for the end of hostilities in Gaza.
According to anonymous Biden administration officials, the Qatari government has told Hamas leaders hiding in Qatar that they must prepare to leave the country. Qatar has been a key player in the Hamas-Israel conflict as they have allowed Hamas politicians to remain in their country to facilitate negotiations between the terrorist group and Israel.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Hamas officials disputed the White House source’s narrative, stating that Qatar never told Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the country.
This report dropped Friday amidst a flurry of activity in the Hamas-Israel conflict following Donald Trump’s electoral victory on Tuesday.
In their first phone call since 2017, President-elect Trump told Palestinian President Abbas Friday morning that he will work to end the war in Gaza when he assumes the presidency, according to a statement from a Palestinian official briefed on the call.
Throughout his entire campaign for the Presidency, Trump has been pro-Israel, regularly boasting his support for Israel’s right to win its war on terror,” and claimed Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack would not have occurred under his watch. Now that he is President-elect, he has emphasized a quick end to the war (reportedly he wants it over before his inauguration) on Israel’s terms.
The day after Trump’s victory was announced by U.S. media, Hamas officials in an interview with Newsweek called for the end of hostilities in Gaza. The official made no mention of the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, however.
“The election of Trump as the 47th president of the USA is a private matter for the Americans,” Hamas Political Bureau member Basem Naim told Newsweek, “but Palestinians look forward to an immediate cessation of the aggression against our people, especially in Gaza, and look for assistance in achieving their legitimate rights of freedom, independence, and the establishment of their independent self-sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Egyptian sources told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar that direct talks with senior Hamas officials were ongoing with the most recent round of hostage negotiations taking place on Election Day, November 5th.
