Qatar said it was appalled Wednesday by leaked remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he criticized the country’s mediation efforts with Hamas, complicating and perhaps sabotaging already arduous negotiations meant to halt the hostilities in exchange for a hostage release, Najib Jovain, Jack Jeffery and Tia Goldenberg reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said on X that his government was “appalled” by the reported remarks by Netanyahu but that they were “not surprising.” I Photo: Doha Forum
In a meeting with families of hostages held by Hamas, Netanyahu said Qatar’s role in the mediation was “problematic.”
Qatar, a key mediator that also has deep ties to the militant group and hosts some of its exiled leaders, said Netanyahu’s remarks were “irresponsible and destructive.”
Fighting has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, displaced some 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that has spread hunger, malnutrition, and disease across the embattled coastal enclave.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said his government was “appalled” by the reported remarks by Netanyahu but that they were “not surprising.”
He added: “If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages.”
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