![]() ![]() On Friday night, when Hamas released two captives, Judith and Natalie Raanan, an American-Israeli mother and daughter, one of the first things American officials did was thank the Qataris. It’s an American ally with open lines to Hamas - many of Hamas’s political leaders reside at least part-time in Doha, Qatar’s capital - and it has a long history of brokering deals with groups that the United States considers terrorists. Qatar, a tiny country on the Persian Gulf, played an outsized role. officials, their Qatari counterparts and representatives from Turkey, Egypt, France and many other countries held delicate talks about how to get the captives out - or least start the process. The hope among many diplomats was that Qatar could play the middleman. Blinken raised the issue of the hostages with the prime minister, according to two senior State Department officials. ![]() ![]() Hamas gunmen had just slaughtered more than 1,400 people and kidnapped more than 200, including Americans, and Mr. Blinken, the American secretary of state, spoke by telephone with Qatar’s prime minister. 7, a few hours after Hamas began its devastating attack on Israel, Antony J. ![]()
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