Qatar criticises Netanyahu in mediation efforts

Qatar has harshly criticised Israel’s prime minister, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately obstructing ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas for personal political gain.

Doha’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said on Wednesday night that his government was “appalled” by leaked remarks allegedly made by Netanyahu in which he criticised the country’s mediation efforts over the war in Gaza, adding that the Israeli leader’s comments were “irresponsible and destructive” but “not surprising”.

“If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritising saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages,” Ansari wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Netanyahu’s office is yet to issue a response in the public spat, which threatens to complicate the already arduous negotiations on aid, a ceasefire and the release of approximately 130 hostages believed to still be captive in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, fanned the flames with a post on X accusing Qatar of being responsible for the 7 October Hamas attack, calling the Gulf state the “patron of Hamas” and “a country that supports terrorism and finances terrorism”.

Ansari’s unusual and damning statement came in response to recordings of Netanyahu’s closed-door meeting with family members of hostages earlier this week obtained by Israel’s Channel 12, in which he reportedly said Qatar’s role in the mediation process was “problematic”.

The prime minister allegedly told the relatives he had intentionally not thanked Doha for its efforts to date, claiming Qatar could put more pressure on the Palestinian militant group, and that he had expressed anger towards the US, Israel’s most important ally, for deciding to keep a military base in the semi-democratic oil state.

“Qatar in my opinion is no different, in essence, from the UN. It is no different, in essence, from the Red Cross, and in some ways it is even more problematic,” he said.

“I am prepared to use any actor at the moment that will help me get [the hostages] home. I haven’t any illusions about [Qatar]. They have leverage.”

Israel has long maintained that international organisations such as the UN are biased against it. Doha in recent years has carved out a role as international mediator in conflicts such as Ukraine, Sudan and Afghanistan, as well as in previous rounds of fighting in Gaza. It has deep ties to Hamas and hosts several members of its political wing.

Qatar, along with Egypt and the US, has served as a leading mediator in the three-month-old war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel in which 1,140 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage. Israel’s offensive, which it says will completely eradicate the Palestinian militant group, has killed more than 25,700 people and displaced about 85% of the strip’s 2.3 million population from their homes.

Qatar was critical in securing a week-long truce in November in which more than 100 hostages were released in return for 240 women and children held in Israeli jails.

Numerous rounds of negotiations have since faltered. The current deal under review is believed to include a 30-day pause in fighting, during which the remaining Israeli hostages would be freed in several instalments, but the parties are far from agreeing more permanent steps to end the conflict.