Qatar has ordered Hamas to leave the country following US pressure in a major blow to the terror group’s leaders who have long lived there in comfort.
Doha reportedly told Hamas around 10 days ago it was “no longer welcome” after the US complained the group should not have refuge in the Gulf country.
In the final weeks of his presidency, Joe Biden had been urged to pressure Qatar over hosting the potential next generation of Hamas leaders.
Israel has repeatedly called on Qatar to impose harsher measures on the terror group who have a political office in the country.
Qatar is a major non-Nato ally but has hosted Hamas’ political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the US.
The US is said to have made the demand around two weeks ago before Qatar told Hamas 10 days ago it must close its political office there.
A senior US administration official told Reuters that Hamas must leave Qatar after rejecting proposals for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the official said.
Israeli media reported that Hamas’s execution of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin along with five other captives in late August was also behind the change in approach.
The following month the US also announced charges against Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, before he was killed, and five other leaders of the terror group over the Oct 7 massacre.
The Times of Israel said US officials believed Hamas showed no signs of budging from “unrealistic positions” in the negotiations.
It had insisted on a condition that would have ensured its ability to remain in power in Gaza which is “something the US and Israel will never accept”.
According to Reuters, three Hamas officials denied it had been told to leave.
It is unclear where Hamas will go next but potential options for the group include Turkey, Iran, Oman, Lebanon and Algeria.
News of the decision to oust Hamas came as 14 Republican senators wrote to Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, and the FBI calling for the assets of Hamas officials living in Qatar to be extradited and have their assets frozen.
They said that Qatar should “end its hospitality of Hamas’ senior leadership” and removing “the safe haven that its leadership enjoys abroad is vital to defeating it”.
The move reflects how weak Hamas has become after the year-long war in Gaza. Hamas is still deciding on who to replace as leader after Sinwar was killed in Gaza last month.
Sinwar held both the positions of leader in Gaza and political leader. The group’s religious Shura council will handle the recruitment. However, this could be a long process as most of the senior leadership has been killed.
Several of the potential replacements are in Qatar including Khaled Meshaal, the former leader of Hamas, who held the position until 2017.
He had represented Hamas from Syria until the Civil War before moving to Qatar and has continued to be involved with the group.
Khalil al-Hayya is the deputy leader of Hamas’s regional politburo in Gaza but also lives in Qatar and has been the main contact in ceasefire negotiations and is one of the most senior figures still alive.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, the founder of Hamas, also resides in Qatar and the US had told Qatar that the presence of the group’s officials was no longer acceptable.
Qatar, alongside the US and Egypt, has played a major role in rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
The latest round of Doha talks in mid-October failed to reach a ceasefire, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.
Qatar’s foreign ministry has yet to comment on whether Hamas will be expelled from the country.
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