Hamas Could Be Expelled from Qatar and IDF Will Attack Rafah If Deal Not Reached

An American news outlet published an interview with senior Hamas official Husam Badran on Saturday, March 9, discussing Hamas’s hard-line stance of only agreeing to a permanent ceasefire and shedding light on details of the negotiation process that are lesser known to the public.

Badran begins the interview by claiming that Hamas is still willing to negotiate a ceasefire deal, saying claims of Hamas disinterest come from Israel and America. “We didn’t declare negotiations have been stopped. We are the party most keen to stop this war,” he said.

According to Egyptian and Hamas officials, Qatar has threatened to expel Hamas officially from their base in Doha if they don’t come to an agreement, but Badran denied this claim. That being said, he stated that Hamas’s official position is still a permanent ceasefire and allowing displaced Gazans to return to their homes.

As far as the negotiation process goes, he revealed that the discussion of swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners has taken a back seat to relieving the humanitarian situation and ending the fighting.

Meanwhile, last week, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement in the name of the Mossad, stating that the Hamas terror group seems uninterested in a hostage swap deal. Further, in the absence of a deal, IDF is set to attack Rafah, where more than one million Gaza residents fled to escape the war.

“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know, if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,” War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said. “We will do so in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties.” (JPost / VFI News)

“Lord, we pray for the immediate release of all our hostages and a permanent end to all the hostilities. We ask that You guide our leaders into making the most beneficial decisions and fruitful negotiations to avoid the loss of more human lives and the further destabilization of our region. May You protect all innocent civilians and end this war once and for all.”