Israelis Fear For Hostages As Qatar Halts Gaza Mediation

Israeli protesters expressed concern for hostages in Gaza Saturday, after Qatar said it was pulling back as a key mediator for a ceasefire that would help bring the captives home.

Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv holding signs reading “400”, the number of days since the hostages were taken when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year.

Efforts to broker a truce in the ensuing war between Hamas and Israel have proven fruitless, and on Saturday Qatar put its mediation on hold until the two sides showed “willingness and seriousness” in talks.

Protester Ruti Lior said she was unsure how much sway Qatar had, but was still “very, very worried” by their decision to pull back from negotiations.

“This is further proof for me that there really is no seriousness, and these deals are being sabotaged,” the 62-year-old psychotherapist told AFP.

Fellow demonstrator Gal voiced his disappointment with Qatar, saying it was good the Gulf emirate was stepping back because it had done a “lousy” job.

Qatar “failed in the matter of mediation, and not only them, others also failed”, said the HR worker, also putting the blame on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Saturday’s rally featured an installation of masks representing Netanyahu along with signs bearing the word “Guilty”.

Other placards read “Hostage deal now” and “Drop your weapon, stop the war”.

“How many more tears must fall and how much more blood must be shed before someone does what needs to be done and brings our children home?” Niva Wenkert, mother of hostage Omer Wenkert, was quoted as saying in a statement released by campaign group Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,552 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israelis have been protesting weekly to pressure their government to do more to secure the captives’ release.

Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political leadership since 2012 with US blessing, has been involved in months of protracted diplomacy aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

But the talks, also mediated by Cairo and Washington, have repeatedly hit snags since a one-week truce in November 2023 — the only one so far — with both sides trading blame for the impasse.