Qatar ‘appalled’ at alleged Netanyahu criticism of mediation in Gaza struggle | Israel War on Gaza News | USAEMALL.com

Qatar has rebuked Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he allegedly criticised the Gulf nation’s position as a mediator within the Gaza struggle as “problematic” in a leaked recording.

At a gathering this week with the households of captives being held in Gaza, Netanyahu blamed Qatar for financing Hamas and mentioned he was upset at a choice by the United States to increase the presence of a navy base within the Gulf state, in accordance with Israeli information outlet Channel 12.

“These remarks if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari mentioned in a put up on X on Wednesday.

Qatar, together with Egypt, has repeatedly engaged in negotiations to dealer a truce in Gaza and make sure the entry of humanitarian assist into the besieged enclave. In November, it helped safe a weeklong pause in preventing through which greater than 100 captives have been launched in change for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The Gulf state stays concerned in talks geared toward securing a brand new deal for the discharge of roughly 130 captives nonetheless being held by Hamas and different Palestinian armed teams.

Al-Ansari mentioned Netanyahu’s leaked feedback have been detrimental to these efforts.

“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 prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages,” he mentioned.

‘No different from UN’

Netanyahu, in his reportedly leaked remarks, advised the households of the captives that he had deliberately not thanked Qatar for its mediation efforts, claiming it may put extra stress on Hamas.

“You don’t hear me thanking Qatar … who are essentially no different from the United Nations or Red Cross, and even more problematic. I have no illusions with regards to them,” Netanyahu purportedly mentioned within the recording obtained by Channel 12.

“They have the means to put pressure [on Hamas]. And why? Because they finance them,” Netanyahu mentioned.

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, mentioned any leak from Netanyahu’s workplace “isn’t usually by chance” and “is usually done for a political reason – what that is you can only question”.

Netanyahu is beneath lots of stress from “all sides”, domestically and internationally, and “from people on the streets … to do more to bring back the captives”, Dekker mentioned on Thursday.

Hassan Barari, a professor at Qatar University, advised Al Jazeera that the Israeli prime minister’s alleged criticism of Qatar’s mediation efforts displays frustration over his failures within the struggle.

“Qatar has stepped in many times, and Qatar has succeeded in mediating between Israelis and Hamas,” Barari mentioned, calling the feedback an indication of “desperation”.

“Netanyahu wants everyone to do things his own way. He fails on the battleground, he fails to convince his own people that he’s doing the right thing, and he wants to blame others and pass the buck for his failures on the Qataris,” he added.

Qatar, which has hosted the political management of Hamas, has lately despatched thousands and thousands of {dollars} in assist to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in cooperation with the Israeli authorities “to try and keep the situation there from exploding … because of the restrictions and blockade”, Dekker reported.

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007, limiting and controlling the stream of individuals and items into and out of the coastal territory.

Responding to al-Ansari’s feedback, Israel’s ultranationalist, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused Qatar of supporting “terrorism”.

“Qatar is a country that supports terrorism and finances terrorism. She [Qatar] is the patron of Hamas and is largely responsible for the massacre committed by Hamas of Israeli citizens,” Smotrich wrote on X.

Members of Netanyahu’s far-right ruling coalition have been pushing for an escalation of the struggle on Gaza, and the prime minister this week rejected a proposal by Hamas to finish the battle and launch captives in change for withdrawing Israeli forces, releasing prisoners and accepting the armed group’s governance of Gaza.

Palestinian officers say at the very least 25,700 folks have been killed and greater than 63,000 wounded in Israeli assaults on Gaza since October 7, when an assault by Hamas inside Israel killed some 1,140 folks.