DOHA (Reuters) – The political office of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Doha has not been permanently closed, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday.
Earlier this month Reuters quoted a U.S. official saying Washington had asked Qatar to expel the group and that Doha had passed this message on to Hamas.
Al-Ansari said the Hamas office had been created to facilitate mediation efforts to end the Gaza war.
“Obviously, when there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn’t have any function other than being part of the process,” he said.
Al-Ansari said any decision to close down the office permanently is a decision “that you will hear about from us directly, and shouldn’t be part of media speculation.”
Qatar has been working alongside the United States and Egypt for months on fruitless negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha. As you know, they move between the different capitals,” Al-Ansari said.
Earlier in November, Qatar told Hamas and Israel it would stall its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show “willingness and seriousness” to resume talks.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha, Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Editing by Ros Russell)
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