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Qatar declared on Saturday that it was ceasing to mediate indirect negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement in the conflict in Gaza, which has raged for over a year.
As Israel continued to bombard the Palestinian territory, a senior Hamas official said Friday that the organisation is “ready for a ceasefire” in Gaza and urged US President-elect Donald Trump to “pressure” Israel.
Qatar, which is home to a large portion of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, declared it was suspending its role as a war mediator and urging all parties to demonstrate “seriousness” almost a week prior.
“Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected” by Israel, Bassem Naim,a member of the Hamas political bureau in Doha, told AFP.
“We call on the US government and the Trump administration to exert pressure on the Israeli government to halt the attack.”
Qatar declared on Saturday that it was ceasing to mediate indirect negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement in the conflict in Gaza, which has raged for over a year.
Majed Al Ansari, the spokesperson for Doha’s foreign ministry, said in a statement that “Qatar would resume those efforts… when the parties show their willingness and seriousness.”
With residents of the central city of Deir el-Balah sifting through the debris of their destroyed homes following overnight strikes, Hamas made its announcement Friday as Israel continued its strikes on Gaza.
“I woke up to the bombing at 2:30 am and was surprised by the rubble and glass falling on me and my children-resident Mohamed Baraka said, adding that the strike “resulted in three martyrs and fifteen injuries.”
He remarked, “Put an end to this war… because there are innocent people who are losing defenceless children who have nothing to do with this.”
Video of the hostage
According to a tally of Israeli official figures by AFP, the war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,206 people, the majority of whom were civilians.
According to the United Nations-reliable health ministry figures from the Hamas-run territory, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,764 people in Gaza, the majority of whom were civilians.
During the attack, militants also took 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still in custody in Gaza, including 34 that the Israeli military claims are dead.
Islamic Jihad, a militant organisation affiliated with Hamas, released a new video of Israeli hostage Sasha Trupanov earlier Friday. The group had previously released a video earlier this week.
Trupanov, 29, a dual citizen of Israel and Russia, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz, which is close to the Gaza border, along with his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen.
Prior to the release of the most recent video, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, demanded the release of Trupanov and another hostage, Maxim Herkin.
Concerns about the hostages’ whereabouts increased when Qatar declared it was pulling out of mediating negotiations, the most recent setback in a drawn-out negotiation process that has repeatedly reached dead ends.
Attacks in Lebanon
Following a year of low-intensity cross-border interactions with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel escalated its air offensive in September and later sent in ground troops in Lebanon, where it continued to strike on Friday.
Two Israeli-attributed strikes struck the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing a building to collapse in a massive cloud of smoke and dust, according to an AFP photographer.
The building collapses as a result of a falling projectile striking the lower floors, which explode in a massive fireball, according to a number of photos taken during the strike.
A “heavy raid carried out by aircraft of the Israeli enemywas reported by the state-run National News Agency (NNA) in the southern Beirut neighbourhood of Ghobeiri.
It claimed that an Israeli drone had launched two missile strikes on the same target prior to the raid.
The strikes followed a call by the Israeli military to evacuate the area. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation call on X, warning of impending strikes and urging residents to evacuate.
In an Arabic-language post on X, Adraee stated, “All residents in the southern suburbs, specifically… in the Ghobeiri area, you are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah.”
“You have to leave these buildings and the ones next to them right away for your own safety and the safety of your family members.”
According to an AFP journalist, a second strike occurred later in the morning in the southern suburbs’ Bourj al-Barajneh neighbourhood.
According to the NNA, a “enemy aircraft” had fired two missiles.
More than 3,380 people have been killed since Hezbollah and Israel started exchanging gunfire in October of last year, according to Lebanese authorities.