WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has stated he is “not thrilled” about Israeli air strike in Qatar, including to the worldwide stress after the unpredecented growth of Israel’s conflict in opposition to Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the strike was “totally justified” as a result of it focused senior Hamas leaders who organised the 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, which triggered the Gaza conflict.
The Palestinian armed group has stated 5 of its members had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Qatar’s capital, however claimed that an try to assassinate its negotiating workforce “failed”.
Qatar condemned the Israeli assault, calling it “cowardly” and a “flagrant violation of worldwide regulation”.
Qatar is a key US ally within the area that’s the location of a serious American air base.
Requested about Israel’s strikes in opposition to Qatar, Trump stated: “Nicely, I am not thrilled… I am simply I am not thrilled about the entire state of affairs. It isn’t state of affairs.
“However I’ll say this, we wish the hostages again, however we aren’t thrilled about the best way that went down in the present day,” he instructed the media.
Hamas stated the negotiating workforce was assembly to debate the most recent US proposal for a ceasefire within the Gaza Strip at a residential compound in Doha when it was badly broken by a collection of explosions.
The Gulf state’s inside ministry stated one member of its Inner Safety Power was killed and others had been injured, with out mentioning any Hamas casualties.
It has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012, and has served together with the US and Egypt as a mediator in oblique negotiations between the group and Israel.
Witnesses in Doha stated they heard as many as eight separate explosions on Tuesday afternoon, with plumes of smoke rising above the town’s northern Katara district.
The strike hit “residential buildings housing a number of members of the Political Bureau of Hamas”, in accordance with Qatari authorities.
Inside minutes, Israel stated it was behind the blasts.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) and Shin Wager inner safety service stated in a press release that they carried out “a exact strike concentrating on the senior management” of Hamas.
Israeli media reported that the operation concerned 15 Israeli fighter jets, firing 10 munitions in opposition to a single goal inside a couple of seconds.
An Israeli official was cited as saying the Hamas members focused included Khalil al-Hayya, the chief negotiator and exiled Gaza chief, and Zaher Jabarin, the exiled West Financial institution chief.
A Hamas assertion denounced the Israeli strike as a “a heinous crime, a blatant aggression, and a flagrant violation of all worldwide norms and legal guidelines”.
“We affirm the enemy’s failure to assassinate our brothers within the negotiating delegation,” it stated, with out offering any proof.
The group named 5 members who it stated had been killed, together with Khalil al-Hayya’s son, Humam, and Jihad Labad, the director of Hayya’s workplace.
“Focusing on the negotiating delegation, as they mentioned US President Donald Trump’s newest proposal, confirms past doubt that Netanyahu and his authorities don’t need to attain any settlement and are intentionally in search of to thwart all alternatives and thwart worldwide efforts,” it stated.
Hamas additionally stated it held the US administration “collectively accountable” for the assault due to its assist for the Israeli army.
Qatar’s authorities reacted with fury to Israel’s actions, saying: “This prison assault constitutes a blatant violation of all worldwide legal guidelines and norms, and poses a severe menace to the safety and security of Qataris and residents in Qatar.”
Comparable statements of shock got here from throughout the Arab world, with Saudi Arabia denouncing what it described because the “brutal Israeli aggression”.
UN Secretary Basic António Guterres additionally condemned the strike, saying it was a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”.
He stated Qatar had been “enjoying a really optimistic function to attain a ceasefire and launch of all hostages”, including: “All events should work in the direction of reaching a everlasting ceasefire, not destroying it.”
French President Emmanuel Macron stated the strike was “unacceptable no matter motive”, whereas UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned of the chance of “additional escalation throughout the area” and known as for a ceasefire in Gaza and the discharge of hostages.
Pope Leo XIV instructed journalists that “your entire state of affairs may be very severe”. — BBC
