Qatari media report denies Hamas ordered to leave Doha; officials tell ToI report false

Hamas has not been informed they are unwelcome in Doha, the Qatari Al-Araby news outlet reports, citing informed sources.

Al-Araby says that information reported by media outlets, including The Times of Israel, is inaccurate.

However, an Arab official tells The Times of Israel that the Al-Araby report is false, calling it a “smokescreen” put on by sources who do not support the decision to oust Hamas.

Senior Biden administration officials told The Times of Israel overnight that Qatar informed Hamas over a week ago that it must close its diplomatic office in Doha.

Qatar has hosted Hamas officials in Doha since 2012, when the terror group moved its headquarters out of Damascus amid the Syrian civil war and after successive US administrations from both parties urged Qatar to serve as a conduit to the terror group.

Following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the US informed Qatar that Doha would not be able to maintain “business as usual” with the terror group. However, the administration held off on asking the Gulf state to shutter the Hamas office, viewing the communication channel with Hamas to be as critical as ever in brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

A US official told The Times of Israel that Hamas’s execution of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin along with five other captives in late August and subsequent rejection of more ceasefire proposals are what led the administration to change its approach regarding the terror group’s continued presence in Doha, deeming it “no longer viable or acceptable.”

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.