Qatar has criticised comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said the Gulf state should do more to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and claimed that the Palestinian group is financially dependent on Doha.
In a speech before American Jewish leaders on Sunday, Netanyahu said pressure should be applied on Qatar, which played a key role in mediating November’s truce and hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.
“Qatar can press Hamas as no one else can. They host Hamas leaders. Hamas is dependent on them financially,” Netanyahu said. “I urge you to press Qatar to press Hamas because we want our hostages released.”
Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Doha “categorically rejects the empty accusations”.
“The Israeli Prime Minister’s recent statements in which he calls on Qatar to pressure Hamas into releasing the [Israeli] hostages are nothing but a new attempt by him to delay and prolong the war for reasons that have become clear to everyone,” he wrote on X on Monday.
“We categorically reject the empty accusations made by the Israeli Prime Minister regarding Qatari efforts in reconstruction and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza, portraying them as funding Hamas, which he personally knows were carried out in full coordination with Israel, the US, Egypt, the United Nations, and all concerned parties,” Al-Ansari said.
