Qatar’s effective role in the Gaza ceasefire agreement; What challenges did “Doha” face in the way of mediation?

Mehr News, International Group: After the start of the war Gaza and its continuation for more than a year, several countries, including Qatar and Egypt, have made several attempts to achieve a ceasefire. In the meantime, one of the most important countries that made effective efforts to achieve a ceasefire at different times was Qatar.

Qatar mediation in the 2023 Gaza war

As ​​a small Arab country in the Persian Gulf and an ally of the United States, since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, Qatar has played a key and sensitive role in the negotiations between played by the Zionist regime and Palestinian groups. While Egypt is a neighbor of Gaza and the United States is considered the main supporter of the Zionist regime, Qatar’s role has been special and it has been one of the few neutral countries. Not only did Qatar not condemn the Al-Aqsa storm operation by Hamas against the Zionist regime, but it also blamed the aggravating policies of this regime as the cause of this attack.

48 hours after the start of the war, Doha announced its readiness to act as a mediator. The first stage of Qatar’s efforts led to a temporary ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Zionist regime on November 21-24, 2023. This ceasefire made it possible to exchange 50 Zionist prisoners and 150 Palestinian prisoners and agree on humanitarian aid to Gaza. With the beginning of 2024, the role of Doha in the process of achieving a ceasefire became more prominent. Qatar participated in the Paris talks in January 2024, which were held with the aim of establishing a negotiation framework for the exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Tel Aviv. The proposal made in these negotiations was agreed by Hamas and opposed by Netanyahu. Doha was also present in the February 2024 negotiations in Paris, which ended without results. In the Cairo talks held in February and March 2024, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, had an active presence.

On March 19, 2024, the capital of Qatar witnessed a round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and the Zionist regime in the framework of the mediators’ efforts to conclude a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement. The purpose of these negotiations was to discuss the proposal of Hamas, which had shown considerable flexibility. On May 6, 2024, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in a call with the Prime Minister of Qatar and the director of Egyptian intelligence. But the next day, the Zionist regime carried out massive attacks on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. On August 15-16, 2024, Doha hosted a new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Tel Aviv with the presence of international and regional mediators, but Netanyahu opposed the agreement by insisting on the two conditions of staying in the Philadelphia axis and inspecting all refugees who return to northern Gaza. Qatar also hosted ceasefire talks in September and December 2024. In the last round of negotiations, which was held on January 14, 2025, hosted by Doha, significant progress was made in the ceasefire negotiations. Finally, on the night of January 15, 2025, a cease-fire agreement and exchange of prisoners in Gaza was officially announced.

Qatar’s initiatives in the negotiation process

Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has repeatedly stated in the past 15 months that Qatar’s diplomatic priorities include “limiting the spread of violence and the cycle of conflict in the region”. Qatar’s mediation also had some initiatives. The Prime Minister of this country made various international trips to arrange a ceasefire. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Qatar met with the head of the Mossad and the Egyptian intelligence agency and was in contact with Hamas officials. Qatari representatives went to Tel Aviv in November 2023 to maintain the ceasefire despite not having official relations. The Prime Minister of Qatar traveled to Europe and America in January 2024 and even met with the head of the CIA. Overall, during the war period, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Emir of Qatar used various communication channels to contact all interested parties with the aim of de-escalation, ending the war, establishing a humanitarian corridor and freeing the remaining prisoners.

Qatar’s challenges in acting as a mediator

During this period, Qatar has faced various challenges in the mediation process, the main of which are:

1- One of these challenges was the lack of seriousness of the parties involved in the war. At some point in November 2024, Doha announced that it has suspended its mediation until Israel and Hamas demonstrate their willingness and seriousness to end the conflict.

2- Another challenge was to create pressure to expel Hamas and close the office of this group in Doha. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Qatar has been criticized by Zionist leaders and many Western experts for expelling Hamas, but the foreign policy apparatus of this country has opposed this issue and stated that the main purpose of the Hamas office in Qatar is to have a communication channel, and this issue in The previous steps have contributed to the ceasefire.

Zionist and American politicians accused Qatar of wanting to support Hamas due to its ideological affiliation. During this period, Qatar even came under direct pressure from the Zionists to use its influence for the direct release of prisoners. Eli Cohen, the foreign minister of this regime, said in a statement that he wants the international community to put pressure on Qatar to pressure Hamas to release the prisoners. The Qatari authorities announced that they were surprised and disappointed by these statements and that such provocative statements could undermine the mediation.

The Qataris also openly blamed the Israeli prime minister and his right-wing cabinet at various times for refusing to commit to a ceasefire and changing the terms of the agreements with his negotiators. . In one example, Sheikh Tamim al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a speech in October 2024 at the meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue Forum, said: “What Israel has been doing in the Gaza Strip for the past one year is genocide, and Qatar has repeatedly discussed the consequences of not prosecuting Israel. It has been warned for its crimes against humanity. The world continues to witness the dangerous escalation of the war waged by the authorities of the Israeli occupying regime in Gaza. Without achieving a just peace with the formation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, there will be no security. Israel uses international inaction and inaction to expand its settlements in the West Bank and sees this situation as an opportunity to implement its plans in Lebanon.

Sajad Moradi Kalardeh; Researcher of international relations