Netanyahu says hostage deal was ‘about to materialize,’ but Qatar wouldn’t help
Prime Minister’s Office denies report saying it foiled bill to label Qatar a ‘terror-supporting state’ and to bar diplomatic, trade ties with it, except possibly on hostage issue
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a lack of Qatari cooperation in hostage-ceasefire negotiations was to blame for the collapse of the latest potential hostage deal with Hamas, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“We are pressing Hamas to [release the hostages] with the support of our friends,” Netanyahu said in a PMO readout from his meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
“We are asking others to put pressure not only on Hamas but also on Qatar, which has decisive influence over Hamas — an influence that is not always exercised but could be,” he added.
“In fact, we had a hostage deal that was about to materialize, one that would have freed almost half of the hostages, with Egypt’s help, but it did not happen. Qatari cooperation… is what could have brought this deal to fruition,” the premier claimed.
“That’s what we expect to see: the support of our friends and pressure from those who are in a position to influence Hamas.”
Last week, Israeli officials began accusing Qatar, one of the mediators in the talks, of trying to sabotage the negotiations by urging Hamas not to agree to the latest proposal on the table. An Arab official, not from Qatar, told The Times of Israel then that the claim was “manufactured” by Jerusalem.
Also Sunday, the PMO denied a Channel 12 report that said it had blocked a Knesset initiative to legally designate Qatar as a “terror-supporting state.”
The bill was proposed by Likud MKs Moshe Saada and Dan Illouz, Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer, and Religious Zionism MK Michal Woldiger. It was originally initiated by Economy Minister Nir Barkat, according to the network, though he needed the support of lawmakers, because ministers who aren’t also in the Knesset cannot propose law bills.
The bill sought to define Qatar as a terror-supporting state, creating such a category for the first time, and would have prohibited donations, trade and diplomatic engagement with the country — though this would possibly exclude the issue of the hostages held by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, according to Channel 12.
The preamble to the draft legislation described Qatar as the “world’s largest sponsor” of terror groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State and the Taliban, and added that “for the past twenty years, Qatar has acted as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.’”
The bill reached the Ministerial Committee for Legislation twice — once at the end of 2024, and once in January — but according to the report, which cited meeting minutes, the National Security Council blocked it at the request of PMO officials, while citing opposition from the security establishment.
The Shin Bet and Mossad security services told the network that neither agency had been consulted or was even familiar with the bill.
The National Security Council commented that it did not oppose the legislation, and that on the contrary, it supported it.
The PMO called the Channel 12 report “fake news,” saying the bill is being “seriously considered,” though there is the possibility of keeping hostage release negotiations beyond the scope of the bill.
Israel has long had a complex relationship with Qatar, which became one of the first Arab countries to establish trade ties with Jerusalem in 1996. Those relations were severed over two decades later amid Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2009.
In the years that followed, though, Israel urged Qatar to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to finance Gaza humanitarian projects along with the salaries of the Strip’s civil servants.
Qatar has been a key mediator in hostage-ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, following the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, when the Iran-backed organization — the de facto government of the Gaza Strip — invaded the Jewish state, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
Qatar hosts much of Hamas’s political leadership. It also funds the Hamas-friendly Al Jazeera network and, with Israeli consent, sent billions of dollars to the Hamas-run enclave over the decade prior to the October 7 attack, which critics contend helped strengthen Hamas and helped enable the onslaught.
In recent months, authorities have been probing the so-called “Qatargate” affair, in which two of Netanyahu’s aides are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.