Biden administration makes final push for ceasefires in Middle East

Top Biden administration officials pushed ahead Friday with final efforts to extinguish flames that have engulfed the Middle East for months, including telling Qatar that Hamas officials should no longer be offered a safe haven in Doha.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to regional officials, including Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and the top UAE diplomat.

The State Department said Blinken affirmed to Prince Faisal Washington’s continued commitment to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “He discussed with the Foreign Minister efforts to secure the release of hostages and establish a path forward that allows Palestinians in Gaza to rebuild their lives and advance governance, security and reconstruction,” State Department Spokesman Matt Miller said.

Blinken also said Israel needed to allow more humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza.

Another conflict, less discussed, is in Sudan. Blinken thanked Prince Faisal for Riyadh’s continued leadership on regional efforts to get a ceasefire, Miller said.

Separately, Blinken and the UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed discussed efforts to provide a path forward that allows Palestinians in Gaza to rebuild their lives and advance governance, security and reconstruction. “They also discussed efforts to achieve a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that allows civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to return to their homes,” Miller said.

Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin held his first call with Israel’s new defense minister after Yoav Gallant was sacked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the week.

During their call, Austin told his new counterpart, Israel Katz, that the US was committed to a diplomatic solution in Lebanon that would allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes along the border.

Austin also stressed the need for Israel to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the Pentagon said.

The top US military general spoke to his Israeli counterpart about the need to de-escalate regional tensions. “The US continues to advocate for a ceasefire and hostage agreement, as well as necessary actions to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Joint Staff Spokesman Jereal Dorsey said.

US asks Qatar to expel Hamas

In a new development, senior Biden administration officials publicized their demand for Qatar to stop providing a safe haven to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Senior diplomatic sources confirmed that Doha asked Hamas ten days ago to leave the country because they refused to accept any ceasefire deal in Gaza. The diplomatic sources said the request was not due to US demands or requests.

“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Friday.

A group of Republican senators on Friday asked the Biden administration to press Qatar to freeze the assets of Hamas officials living in Doha, extradite senior Hamas figures Khaled Meshal and Khalil Al-Hayya, and hospitality of Hamas’ senior leadership. “The defeat of Hamas is within reach, and ending the safe haven that its leadership enjoys abroad is vital to defeating it,” the senators wrote.

Qatar began hosting Hamas leaders in 2012 as part of a request by Washington as a way of keeping channels of communication open with the group that has controlled Gaza after it overthrew the Palestinian Authority in the enclave.