In leaked audio, Israeli PM is heard criticising Doha in its position in negotiating the discharge of captives held by Hamas.
Households of Israelis held captive in Gaza have mentioned denied they had been behind the leak of audio wherein Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised Qatar’s position in talks with Hamas over the discharge of the captives.
“All conversations that happen in conferences with the Prime Minister are recorded by his workplace and his associates current on the assembly,” Haim Rubinstein, a spokesperson for the households, mentioned on Thursday in an announcement cited on Israeli media.
“The households taking part within the assembly had their telephones taken on the entrance,” he mentioned, including that the leak was a “grave situation that signifies a lack of management”.
His remark got here a day after the prime minister’s workplace blamed one of many relations for the leak.
Israeli media outlet Walla on Thurdsay reported that the prime minister’s workplace doubled down on blaming the households, saying that it has proof within the type of a textual content message from one in all their members current on the assembly.
“The woman subsequent to me had a cellphone, it’s a disgrace I didn’t tip her off,” the message reads, in line with Walla.
Within the audio that triggered the controversy, which was aired on Tuesday by Israeli Channel 12, Netanyahu is heard saying that Qatar’s involvement within the launch of captives was “problematic”.
He additionally blamed Qatar for financing Hamas and mentioned he was upset at a choice by the US to increase the presence of a navy base within the Gulf state.
Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s international ministry, responded to the remarks saying he was “appalled”.
About 240 folks had been taken captive by Hamas fighters as they launched an unprecedented assault into southern Israel on October 7, killing a minimum of 1,139 folks, in line with an Al Jazeera tally based mostly on Israeli statistics.
Israel responded with a devastating bombardment and floor invasion of Gaza, which has displaced greater than 80 p.c of the inhabitants and decreased a lot of the territory to rubble. Palestinian officers say a minimum of 25,700 folks have been killed and greater than 63,000 wounded within the Israeli assault.
Following prolonged negotiations led by Qatar and the US, greater than 100 of these captured had been freed in late November in trade for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails as Israel and Hamas noticed a weeklong truce.
The Gulf state stays concerned in talks aimed toward securing a brand new deal for the discharge of roughly 130 captives nonetheless being held by Hamas and different Palestinian armed teams.
Al-Ansari mentioned Netanyahu’s leaked feedback had been detrimental to these efforts.
“If the reported remarks are discovered to be true, the Israeli prime minister would solely be obstructing and undermining the mediation course of, for causes that seem to serve his political profession as a substitute of prioritising saving harmless lives, together with Israeli hostages,” he mentioned.
