Sheikh Mohammed said Israel’s leaders are acting with arrogance, adding that the timing of the attacks during mediation efforts uncovered Israel’s motive of derailing the peace negotiations with Hamas.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), in a statement agreed upon by all 15 members, including the United States, condemned the unprecedented attack on Doha, targeting Hamas leaders, and reaffirmed support for Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The declaration followed an emergency session convened on Thursday. “The members of the Security Council expressed their condemnation of the recent strikes in Doha, the territory of a key mediator, on 9 September,” said the statement, drafted by France and the United Kingdom, which nonetheless stopped short of explicitly mentioning Israel.
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told the Council, “Doha will continue its humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, but we will not tolerate further breaches of our security and sovereignty”.
Sheikh Mohammed said Israel’s leaders are acting with arrogance, adding that the timing of the attacks during mediation efforts uncovered Israel’s motive of derailing the peace negotiations with Hamas.
“The attack on our soil, carried out while we were fully engaged in mediation, has clearly revealed Israel’s deliberate intentions to undermine any efforts toward peace and to prolong the humanitarian suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people to such an extent that words fail to capture it,” Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs stated.
Israel’s attack on Doha on Tuesday killed six people including five Hamas members and a Qatari security force member, but the Palestinian group said its leadership survived the assassination bid.
Hamas leaders were meeting to discuss a new deal proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump when the attack happened.
Highlighting the proximity of diplomatic missions and schools to the strike, Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia expressed alarm over the civilian toll and the broader implications for regional stability.
“It is extremely disquieting that the target of the Israeli Air Force was a neighborhood in the Qatari capital where foreign embassies are located, as well as residential buildings, busy roads, and several schools and kindergartens. This massive air strike could have claimed much more innocent lives, including those of our fellow diplomats, their spouses, and children.”
Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea warned, “Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation working very hard and bravely taking risks alongside the United States to broker peace, does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals”.
Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama added, “Israel behaves as if law does not exist, as if borders are illusions, as if sovereignty itself is a dispensable motion, as if the UN Charter is an ephemeral text. This is not strength, it is recklessness. It is a sign of madness.”
China’s ambassador Fu Cong criticised the attack, stating, “Such an act of bad faith, irresponsibility and a deliberate sabotage of negotiations is indeed despicable.”
The UK’s Ambassador Barbara Woodward emphasised that the strikes on Qatar will do nothing to deliver peace in the Middle East. “Qatar has long been a tireless broker for peace in the Middle East and beyond, and we commend the resolute commitment of His Highness The Amir to champion diplomacy and dialogue.”
Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, warned that the message that Israel sent from its aggression against Qatar is that it will continue its aggression in the region. “It will continue to violate the sovereignty of states, it will continue to violate international law, it will continue to kill innocents, it will continue to impose famine on Gaza, it will continue to deprive more than 600,000 students in Gaza of their right to study.”
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo described the attack as an “alarming escalation,” opening “a new and perilous chapter” in the conflict and threatening regional stability.
The UNSC statement reaffirmed support for Qatar as a key mediator, alongside Egypt and the United States, while stressing the urgent need for de-escalation, the safe release of hostages, and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
