Qatar informs US it’s temporarily suspending mediation efforts to reach hostage-ceasefire deal

By Jacob Magid

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9 September 2025, 10:32 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff (second from L) meets with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan along with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s top aide Hussein al-Sheikh in Doha, Qatar on March 12, 2025. (Qatari foreign ministry)

WASHINGTON — Qatar informed the Trump administration earlier today that it is temporarily suspending its mediation efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel after the latter carried out a strike targeting the former’s leaders in Doha, a diplomatic source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

No official announcement has been made by Qatar on the matter, though.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani is slated to issue public remarks in the coming hours, the source says.

Qatar has paused its mediation efforts at earlier stages of the war due to frustration with the parties, but subsequently did come back to the table following requests from the US, which values the role Doha has played.