Transcript of Qatar withdraws as mediator between Israel and Hamas, reports say | BBC News

We start with breaking news from the Middle East, where prospects of any deal to end the Israel-Ghaza war have been dealt another blow, with reports that the mediators Qatar are pulling out of negotiations. The Gulf state has played a key diplomatic role in trying to bring an end to the conflict, to prevent further loss of life, secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas, as well as taking part in talks. Qatar has hosted the political office of Hamas, allowing the group to operate with relative freedom. It. Let's speak to our correspondent, Joe Inwood, who's in Jerusalem for us. Joe, just talk us through what we know.

We've had reports come through in the last hour or so that have come from the Reuters and AFP news agencies, quoting a Qatari diplomatic source, saying that they are no longer participating, they're no longer taking part, as you were saying, as a key mediator in these peace talks between Hamas and Israel. They also had strong words for both sides, essentially implying that neither neither were negotiating, neither were operating in good faith. As a follow-on to that, they said that, therefore, the Hamas Political Office, which has been based in Qatar since 2012, no longer serves any purpose. They didn't elaborate on that. But this follows also reports we had earlier in the day coming from Washington, that a senior official there, also quoted by news agencies, saying that they no longer thought it was acceptable for Hamas to have its office based in Qatar as long as they were refusing to take part in negotiations, which, reportedly, they turned down their deal that was put to them in October. We've had a number of developments today, all of which paint a fairly bleak picture from any prospects of some negotiated deal.

Yes. Just talk us through what this now means for any potential talks in the future? What are the mechanisms? How could this work?

Well, it's worth saying that these talks have basically been going nowhere as far as we can tell for months. There There were reports of something on the table earlier in the year, a deal that was agreed by the Americans and by Hamas, which was reportedly turned down by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and then also reports that they weren't getting any progress in October. We had some suggesting they were going to be restarting, but really, they haven't been making any substantial progress, as far as anyone can tell, for months and months now. Obviously, this development makes it even more difficult We, of course, do still have the Egyptians. They talk to both sides, and the Americans have been pushing for some improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza and for a deal. It was thought that the threat, the attempt to get Hamas kicked out of Doha was part of that negotiating strategy, potentially. But it doesn't seem that anyone is really viewing this as a peace process which is going to be making any progress at this point. However, it is worth pointing out as a contrary point to that, that there are some reports that have been coming through that incoming President Trump has said that he wants Benjamin Netanyahu to have the war in Gaza over by the time he comes to power in January the 20th.

There could be a glimmer of hope there. Although, as ever with Donald Trump, we should caveat things by saying, We really don't know what he's going to do.

Okay, Joe, thank you very much for that. Well, let's speak now to our Middle East Security and Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, a think tank, Dr. Hisham Helya. Thank you for coming on the program.

Thank you.

What do you make of this moment? How significant is it?

So this moment has been coming for quite some time, I think. I think that once you looked at how the Americans had, quote, unquote, withdrawn their support for Hamas having an office in Doha, and keeping in mind, Doha had that office because of engagements from the United States. Once they withdraw that, and they clearly withdraw that over the last year, it was inevitable that at some point, Hamas was going to have to look for a new home. And in terms of the political leadership that lived in Doha. We may not be there immediately, i. E. In the next 24, 48 hours, but I do think that over the short term, that's very likely to come to pass.

And where Where does this leave prospects now of talks and ceasefire and peace and return of hostages? Does the emphasis now lie with Egypt?

Before I got to Egypt, let's be very clear. There haven't been ceasefire negotiations for many, many months. What we've had over the last few months have been hostage in negotiations. They weren't ceasefire negotiations. The Israelis made it abundantly clear that after a pause in hostilities, if the deal were to go through, they would return to bombarding Gaza. So there haven't been ceasefire negotiations for quite some time. And I think this was also part of the reasoning of the Qataris, that there isn't good faith coming from the Israelis. And they also had critiques of Hamas at different points. But you've had over the past year numerous Israeli press reports showing how Netanyahu's office directly intervened in the negotiations to sabotage them. And I think the Qataris were also just very frustrated about this. So I don't think that there have been talks, serious talks for quite some time. I think, frankly, we are now in the day after scenario. And I think this is also something that the Qataris realized that there is no prospect of the Israelis removing their armed forces from Gaza, that Gaza will be more or less partitioned into different zones. And And there'll be more than one zone where Palestinians are not allowed to return.

And I don't think they want to be a part of that exercise in any way. There will be others that perhaps will be able to talk to, quote, unquote, both sides in this situation. It's long been the case that the Egyptians have been able to talk to all of the parties with regards to the Israeli-Palestine in issue. So I'm sure they will continue in that regard. And also, when it comes to the Qataris, they will maintain those contacts. But it's a question of whether or not there'll be an office in Doha, and there isn't an office in Cairo either. But those contacts, I think, will remain, and there'll be others that will be looking to mediate as well.

Okay, thank you very much for your thoughts and analysis on the situation. Thank you very much. We'll get plenty more-Thank you.context and opinions in the hours ahead.