The discussion included potential repercussions of Israel’s assassination of late Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The United Kingdom’s secretary of state for foreign affairs and secretary of state for defence are in Qatar for an official visit to Doha as tensions escalate in the region.
On Wednesday, the Amiri Diwan announced that the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received the British delegation led by Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Secretary of State for Defence John Healy.
During the meeting, both sides discussed the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues its aggression on the enclave.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced on X that Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani received the British officials earlier on Wednesday. Also present were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah and the UK’s Ambassador to Qatar, Neerav Patel.
According to a statement by MoFA, part of their discussion included news of the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an Israeli strike in Tehran earlier on Wednesday and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Hamas confirmed Haniyeh’s assassination in a statement on Wednesday morning, where it said he “was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.”
Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also confirmed the assassination of Haniyeh, saying it will release further details on the attack at a later time.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to X to extend his condolences to the late Haniyeh’s family and vowed that his country was bound by “duty to take revenge”.
Qatar strongly condemned the assassination, describing it as “a henious crime, a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of international and humanitarian law.”
Qatar’s prime and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed also said in a statement on Wednesday: “Political assassinations & continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?”
The UK delegation arrived in Doha following escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. Just hours before, Israel had struck a suburb of Beirut in retaliation for an attack last Saturday in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, for which Hezbollah denies responsibility.
Lammy told Parliament on Tuesday that “a widening of this conflict is in nobody’s interest.”
