Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani said Doha is "reevaluating" its role as a mediator in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The emirate always sought a humanitarian truce and had managed to free Israeli and foreign hostages between Hamas and Israel. But
negotiations have become complicated
this week.
Prime Minister Al Thani said there was "a misuse of this mediation for narrow political interests. This required Qatar to carry out a full assessment of this role."
“Qatar is reassessing its role as a mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, citing concerns that its efforts are being undermined by politicians seeking to score points,” the head of government declared on Wednesday.
The Gulf country recently reacted angrily to a statement by a US Democratic representative calling on it to put pressure on Hamas, calling it "unconstructive."
"We are carrying out a global reassessment of our role," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, in a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
He considered that there has been
"an attack on Qatar's role"
and that his country will make "a decision at the appropriate time" on "whether or not to continue its participation in the negotiations aimed at obtaining, in particular, a truce between Hamas and Israel." ”.
Democrat Hoyer said Qatar should signal to Hamas that there would be "repercussions" if the Palestinian Islamist group blocked "progress" toward a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza.
War to maintain power
For his part, Turkish Prime Minister Fidan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to drag the Middle East into war “to remain in power.”
"It is obvious that Netanyahu is trying to drag the region into war to stay in power," the Turkish foreign minister said.
Fidan considered the risk of the conflict in Gaza spreading to the region “persistent.”
"We will redouble our efforts to end this war," he added, at the end of an interview with Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane Al-Thani.
Fidan also indicated that he spoke for "three hours" on Wednesday in Doha with Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh and members of the Palestinian Islamist movement's political bureau, in particular on the topic of ceasefire talks.
Haniyeh, one of the Hamas negotiators in Doha, lost three of his thirteen children and grandchildren in a bombing of an Israeli refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh will be received this weekend in Turkey by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
, one of Israel's most critical leaders since the war began on October 7, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil.
The Hamas attack killed 1,170 people, most of them civilians. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain held in Gaza, 34 of whom have died, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and has led an offensive in the Gaza Strip, where 33,899 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to the Palestinian movement's Health Ministry.
Iran spoke to the United States
Iran assures the United States that it does not want “an expansion of tensions” with Israel, after its “revenge” intercepted by allied countries on April 13, after the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry,
Tehran spoke with Washington "before and after" the unprecedented attack,
carried out in Israel on April 13. Iran assures this Thursday, April 18, that it is not seeking “an escalation of violence in the Middle East.”
The head of Iranian diplomacy indicated that his country had sent several "messages" to the United States to ensure that Iran "does not seek an expansion of tensions" in the Middle East with Israel.
"What can increase tensions in the region is the behavior of the Zionist regime," said Hossein Ami-Abdollahian, upon his arrival in New York on the night of Wednesday to Thursday for a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Foreign Minister Hossein Ami-Abdollahian insisted that "messages were sent before and after the operation" to the United States, mainly through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents American interests in Iran, in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries. .
According to him, these exchanges were aimed at "establishing a correct understanding of Iran's action."
"We have clearly told the Americans that the decision to respond to the Israeli regime," following the attack attributed to Israel against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, was "definitive," the minister said.
"We have tried to make clear to the United States, in these messages, that we are not seeking an expansion of tensions in the region," he added.
In New York, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian planned to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other foreign ministers on the sidelines of a Security Council meeting that will discuss a Palestinian request for full membership. United Nations law.
Israel offensive in Rafah
Israel indicated on Wednesday that it reserves "the right to protect itself" against Iran, following the attack carried out on the night of Saturday to Sunday by Tehran against its territory with drones and missiles.
The Israeli newspaper
Haaretz
reports that, according to Egyptian sources, “The United States has accepted the Israeli plan for a military operation in Rafah, in exchange for a limited response against Iran.” It quotes an Egyptian source who spoke to the Qatari newspaper, based in London, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Israel is purchasing thousands of tents to use in Gaza to displace refugees currently in Rafah.
According to an Associated Press (AP) report, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
the current EU sanctions regime against Iran would be strengthened and expanded to punish Tehran
for its attack and help prevent future attacks against Israel. At the same time, he said, “Israel needed to exercise restraint.”
"I don't want to exaggerate, but we are on the verge of a war. A regional war in the Middle East, which will send shock waves to the rest of the world, and in particular to Europe," he warned. “So stop it!” she stated,
On Wednesday, EU leaders meeting in Brussels vowed to increase sanctions against Iran to target its shipments of drones and missiles to its proxies in Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon.
C.B.