Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani used the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha to denounce Israel’s “blatant, treacherous and cowardly” attack on the Qatari capital, accusing it of sabotaging Gaza ceasefire efforts.
Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has described last week’s Israeli attack on his country as “blatant, treacherous and cowardly” during the Emergency Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha on Monday.
“This aggression is in reality blatant, treacherous and cowardly. It is impossible to deal with such a degree of malice and treachery,” Sheikh Tamim told the summit, in his first public remarks since the strike.
The gathering brought together leaders of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss Israel’s unprecedented attack on the Qatari capital, which targeted a residential building housing members of Hamas’s political office.
The bombing killed five Hamas members and 22-year-old Corporal Bader Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari, a member of Qatar’s Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya). Qatar’s Amir said 18 others were wounded in what he denounced as a “terrorist attack”.
Sheikh Tamim noted that the assault coincided with talks between Hamas negotiators and international mediators over a new Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump.
“It is obvious that Israel […] was aware of this meeting, held in a well-known location frequented by diplomats, journalists, and others,” he said.
The Qatari leader questioned Israel’s decision to attack a country that has mediated the release of at least 150 Israeli captives.
“Have you ever heard of anything like this before? A state that systematically and persistently seeks to assassinate the very politicians it is negotiating with, while attacking the mediating country hosting those negotiations?” he asked.
Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, has been a central mediator between Hamas and Israel since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
Mediation efforts collapsed after Israel broke the January 15 ceasefire brokered by the three states.
Sheikh Tamim said Israel had shown no interest in securing the release of its captives, but was instead intent on escalating its campaign of destruction.
“This has been his style up to now. If stopping the war is the price for freeing his hostages, he doesn’t want them. What he really wants is to make Gaza uninhabitable in order to displace its population,” he said.
He also warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expansionist vision of turning the Arab world into “an Israeli sphere of influence” was a “dangerous illusion”, and vowed that Qatar would do “whatever is necessary to preserve our sovereignty and confront Israeli aggression”.
The Arab-Islamic summit in Doha, which drew leaders from nearly 60 Arab and Muslim countries, ended with a declaration of full solidarity with Qatar and a call for international accountability over Israel’s actions.
Leaders also urged the United Nations to examine whether Israel’s membership remained compatible with its obligations under the UN Charter, citing what they described as persistent violations and contempt for international law.
The Gulf Cooperation Council also announced that it would activate “joint defence mechanisms”, with leaders instructing the Joint Defence Council to meet urgently in Doha, preceded by consultations among the bloc’s military chiefs.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday, is expected to arrive in Qatar on Tuesday, according to US officials cited by The Washington Post.
The visit comes days after Trump rebuked Israel’s attack, saying it did not “advance Israel’s or America’s goals” and assuring Sheikh Tamim that “such a thing will not happen again on their soil”.
