CNN
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Qatar agreed in current weeks to kick Hamas out of its nation following a request from the US to take action, capping off months of failed makes an attempt to attempt to get the militant group – whose prime leaders reside within the Qatari capital of Doha – to just accept a ceasefire and hostage launch deal in the Israel-Hamas struggle, US and Qatari sources advised CNN.
With efforts to pause the struggle – which has been a prime precedence for President Joe Biden – firmly stalled, US officers knowledgeable their Qatari counterparts about two weeks in the past that they need to cease giving Hamas refuge of their capital; Qatar agreed and gave Hamas discover a couple of week in the past, sources mentioned.
“Hamas is a terrorist group that has killed People and continues to carry People hostage,” a senior administration official advised CNN. “After rejecting repeated proposals to launch hostages, its leaders ought to not be welcome within the capitals of any American companion.”
A senior Hamas official mentioned reviews of Qatar agreeing to expel Hamas officers from Doha have been “baseless” and a “stress tactic,” including that related claims have been beforehand circulated with out supporting proof.
“What was reported within the Israeli media about Qatar agreeing to expel Hamas from Doha following a US request has no foundation and is merely a stress tactic. This has been repeated with none proof,” the Hamas official advised CNN on Saturday.
All through the course of the struggle and negotiations to carry the hostages house, US officers have requested Qatar to make use of the specter of expulsion as leverage of their talks with Hamas. The ultimate impetus for Qatar agreeing to kick Hamas out got here not too long ago after the dying of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Hamas’ rejection of yet one more ceasefire proposal.
Qatar has been a significant participant in efforts over the previous 12 months to attempt to safe a ceasefire within the Israel-Hamas struggle, in no small half as a result of senior members of the militant group are primarily based in Doha. Main negotiations have taken place within the Qatari capital for that motive.
Precisely when Hamas operatives can be exiled out of Qatar – and the place they’d go – are unclear. One US official advised CNN the group has not been given an prolonged period of time to depart the nation. Whereas Turkey is seen as a potential choice, the US is just not more likely to approve of that state of affairs for a similar causes that it doesn’t need Qatar to present refuge to Hamas management.
Earlier this 12 months, the Justice Division charged a number of senior Hamas leaders over the October 7 terrorist assault on Israel. At the very least a kind of defendants, Khaled Meshaal, is believed to be residing in Qatar.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken additionally advised Qatar over the summer time to warn Hamas that if the group didn’t agree to halt the struggle in Gaza, they’d threat getting kicked out of Doha.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report.
