Gaza war truce talks: 'Presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer accepted since...,' US tells Qatar

The United States (US) has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, reported the news agency Reuters early Saturday (Nov 9) citing an official who chose to remain anonymous.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year, Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, has played a major role in therounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire.

Speaking to Reuters, the official said, "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 senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity."

Qatar then made the demand to Hamas leaders about 10 days ago, the official said. Washington has been in touch with Qatar over when to close the group's political office, and it told Doha that now was the time.

Hamas' denial

Reuters reported that three Hamas officials denied Qatar told the group that it was no longer welcome in the country. Qatar has not commented on the above developments so far and it was unclearif the Qataris provided a specific deadline for Hamas leaders to leave the country.

Doha has come under criticism from US lawmakers over its ties with Hamas. Recently, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told leaders in Qatarand elsewhere in the region that there could be "no more business as usual" with Hamas.

Qataris told Blinken they were open to reconsidering the presence of Hamas in the country when the time comes.

It is not yet known how many Hamas leaders live in Qatar. But they included several leaderstouted as possible replacements for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, whom Israeli forces killed last month.

Republican senators make a request to Washington

On Friday, as many as 14 Republican senators wrote a letter to the State Department, asking Washingtonto immediately freeze the assets of Hamas officials living in Qatar, extradite several senior Hamas officials living in the country and ask Doha to end its hospitality to the Palestinian militant group'ssenior leadership.

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Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said repeatedly over the last year that the Hamas office existedin Doha to allow negotiations with the group and that as long as the channel remained useful, Qatar would allow the office to remain open.

(With inputs from agencies)