“Qatar hosts the leaders of Hamas. It also finances Hamas. It has influence over Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a televised news conference. “So they should be so good as to apply their pressure. They have set themselves up as mediators—so please, let them be so good as to bring back our hostages.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday stepped up public pressure on Qatar to secure the release of hostages from Gaza, stressing that the Gulf emirate should use its influence as a host and financier of Hamas militants, which holds them.
“Qatar hosts the leaders of Hamas. It also finances Hamas. It has influence over Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a televised news conference. “So they should be so good as to apply their pressure. They have set themselves up as mediators—so please, let them be so good as to bring back our hostages.”
When asked about remarks he made behind closed doors — a recording of which was leaked to Israeli television this week — in which he refrained from thanking Qatar for its mediation and considered the gas-rich emirate “problematic,” the Israeli Prime Minister told reporters: “I don’t take back a word.”
There was no immediate response from Qatar to Netanyahu’s comments. On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry in Doha “expressed its disgust”.
Qatar and Egypt have open channels with Israel and Hamas and brokered a truce in November in which Hamas released some of the 253 hostages it took when it launched its attack on southern Israel on October 7.
Efforts to reach a deal to return at least some of the 132 remaining hostages appear to be coming to fruition, while protests are mounting in Israel demanding the government do more.
Source :Skai
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