Hamas has been weakened killing of leaders Yahya Sinwar in October and Ismail Haniye In July, he said it had become unclear “how you continue a negotiation process where all the main interlocutors are dead.”

“Hamas thinks the United States has already accepted the summer ceasefire plan,” said Anna Jacobs, a Gulf analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank.

However, this proposal never led to an agreement.

Jacobs said he thought Hamas was “sabotaging the negotiations by constantly adding new conditions,” including maintaining Israel’s military presence in Gaza.

CAN HAMAS LEAVE QATAR?

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari on Saturday (November 9) disputed reports that Hamas would be expelled from the country.

Ansari stated that “the main purpose of the Hamas office in Qatar is to be a communication channel,” adding that it “contributed to the establishment of the ceasefire in the previous stages.”

A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group had not received any indication that it should leave Qatar.

A diplomatic source had previously told AFP that the Hamas office would also take action as Qatar withdraws its mediating role. “It no longer serves its purpose”.

Jacobs said that given the denials by Hamas and Qatar, “a public closure of the Hamas office and removal of leaders is highly unlikely.”

Qatar sent a similar message to Hamas in April, encouraging some of the group’s members to go to Turkey, only to return two weeks later at the request of the United States and Israel after negotiations proved useless.

Krieg said Hamas now appears to be in “limbo” and demands for deportation are increasing “in a fairly short period of time, maybe a few weeks,” with the most likely target being Iran.

Krieg added that Turkey has been touted as a new host, but it is unlikely that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization member wants to upset the United States.

According to Jacobs, it is possible that “Hamas officials will stay away from Doha until more serious negotiations continue” until US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.