Hamas officials not in Doha but office not closed - Qatar

Hamas negotiators are not in Doha but the Palestinian militant group's office there has not been permanently closed, Qatar has said.

"The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha," foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said.

He added: "The decision to... close down the office permanently, is a decision that you will hear about from us directly."

Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, had been engaged in months of fruitless negotiations for a truce in the Gaza war, which would include a hostage and prisoner release deal.

However, the Gulf state, which has hosted the Palestinian militant group since 2012 - with the US' blessing - announced earlier this month it was pausing its mediation efforts.

"The mediation process right now... is suspended unless we take a decision to reverse that which is based on the positions of both sides," Mr Ansari said.

"The office of Hamas in Doha was created for the sake of the mediation process. Obviously, when there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn't have any function," he added, declining to confirm whether Qatar had asked Hamas officials to leave.

Anti-looting operation

In Gaza, authorities launched an anti-looting operation after a convoy of more than 100 UN food trucks was attacked on Saturday.

Gaza's interior ministry said at least 20 people were killed in a security operation targeting "gangs" that looted trucks.

"More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees," said a ministry statement.

"Today's security operation will not be the last," it said, adding that "the phenomenon of truck thefts has severely impacted society and led to signs of famine in southern Gaza".

Israel maintained its campaign in southern Gaza in response to the Hamas 7 October 2023 attacks.

Civil defence rescuers said four members of one family were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area - an Israeli-designated "safe zone".

The health ministry in the territory said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war has reached 43,922, a majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.