US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken meets with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Washington, last month. If Qatar wanted to pressure Hamas, it could have threatened to cut off funding, says the writer.(photo credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
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The US has for months been pressuring Qatar to announce that it will expel Hamas if they don’t accept the ceasefire deal.
Qatar has given Hamas an ultimatum to accept the ceasefire deal proposed by the US and Israel or face expulsion from Doha, according to a report by CNN.
As part of the US’s diplomatic campaign to achieve a ceasefire, it has been putting intense pressure on members of the Israeli government to accept the deal.
CNN revealed that it has been putting a similar amount of pressure on Qatar to achieve results from the negotiations.
The US has for months been pressuring Qatar to announce that it will expel Hamas if they don’t accept the ceasefire deal.
According to CNN, this threat has been issued, with Qatar making clear to Hamas that failure to achieve a ceasefire would lead to their expulsion from Qatar.
Hamas have been cagey with their response, having only said that they have neither accepted nor rejected the proposal as of Thursday night.
Hamas’s demand for a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from all of Gaza before accepting the current ceasefire deal has been causing delays in the deal.
Pressure on Egypt
The US has also stepped up its pressure on Egypt to authorize the closure of access to Gaza through Egyptian territory if Hamas refuses the ceasefire deal.
(L-R): Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh at the International Court of Justice(illustrative) (credit: REUTERS)
US officials told CNN that the diplomatic campaign was working and that Egypt had increased its pressure on Hamas.
There’s no exact confirmation on how effective the pressure has been, as Egypt has been reticent to publicize its dialogue with Hamas
