Despite Qatar's success in brokering the Gaza ceasefire, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party will remain critical of Qatari support for Islamist movements like Hamas and Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which could prompt Washington to reassess Doha's status as a major non-NATO ally, though bilateral defense cooperation will likely continue. On Jan. 15, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that Hamas and Israeli officials had reached a ceasefire, which went into effect on Jan. 19. Qatar has mediated hostage release and ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel since the onset of the Gaza war in October 2023. However, as those talks repeatedly stalled over the past year, U.S. lawmakers began accusing Qatar of not adequately leveraging its ties with Hamas, whose political wing has operated out of Doha since 2012, to get the militant group to reach a deal. In the weeks leading...
