Israel has put aside its differences with conflict mediator Qatar for the time being but will “settle accounts” after the war in Gaza ends, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official has said.
In an interview on Israeli army radio, Joshua Zarka, deputy director general for strategic affairs at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, questioned Qatar’s “role in everything related to hosting and legitimising Hamas’s activities”.
“Right now we need them. But when this thing passes from the world, we will settle accounts with them,” he said.
Qatar, the US and Egypt have engaged in intense negotiations to establish and prolong the truce in Gaza and establish the captive-prisoner exchange in recent days. The Gulf state also hosts a Hamas office which it says is a political establishment and will stay open as long as it can be used for peace.
On Tuesday, the heads of CIA and Israel’s Mossad met Qatar’s prime minister to discuss the extension of the truce between Israel and Hamas.