Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has described Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha as “state terrorism”.
Speaking to journalists, he called the strike “100 per cent treacherous” and rejected suggestions that Doha had been warned before the attack.
As world leaders try to contain the fallout, the EU's executive body tabled proposals to suspend support to Israel in a challenge to divided European leaders.
“We will put our bilateral support to Israel on hold,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech, without specifying which payments would stop. Financial support to Israeli civil society and Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial centre, will not be affected.
Ms von der Leyen was speaking on the morning after Israel attacked Hamas officials in Qatar. The strikes killed six people, according to Hamas, but senior leaders survived. A Qatari security official was among the dead. The Israeli move drew a rare rebuke from US President Donald Trump.
Sheikh Mohammed said US officials first informed Qatar of the strike 10 minutes after it began.
“Qatar reserves the right to respond to this blatant attack and will take all necessary measures to respond,” he added, saying a legal team has been formed to handle the Gulf country's response.
“There is a rogue actor practising ongoing political chaos in this region and violating the sovereignty of states there,” the Prime Minister said.
Latest developments
- Hamas says Israeli strike on Doha failed to kill its leaders
- 'Unhappy' Trump says attack in Qatar was not his decision
- Israel claims it used 'precise munitions', but killed Qatari security agent
- Qatar says it only got warning from US ten minutes after attack started
- UAE President Sheikh Mohamed expressed 'condemnation of blatant attack'
“This can only be called treachery, and treachery is something that comes naturally to someone like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
But despite the strong words, he said Qatar’s mediation efforts to end the Gaza war would continue.
Mediation work is part of the Qatari identity and nothing would deter the nation’s role in that regard, he said.
Doha, along with Cairo and Washington, has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.
“Qatar has spared no efforts and will do everything it can to stop this war in Gaza, but for current talks, I do not think there's something valid right now after what we saw from today's attack,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
The attack comes only weeks beforea key UN conference on Palestinewhere several major powers are expected to recognise the state, angering Israel.
Hamas said its top negotiator and other senior officials survived the attack, but five others were killed. A Qatari security officer also died at the scene.
The Israeli military said it carried out a “precise strike” on the senior leadership. Mr Netanyahu called it a “wholly independent Israeli operation”. The White House said the US was informed in advance but distanced itself from the attack.
US President Donald Trump said he was “very unhappy” about the strike. “I’m not thrilled about the whole situation,” he told reporters.
“This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon on Wednesday said his country does not always act in the interests of the US.
“We are co-ordinated, they give us incredible support, we appreciate that, but sometimes we make decisions and inform the United States,” he told an Israeli radio station.
“It was not an attack on Qatar; it was an attack on Hamas. We are not against Qatar, nor against any Arab country. We are currently against a terrorist organisation.”
Mr Danon said Israel was “still waiting for the results” of the Doha strike. “It is too early to comment on the outcome, but the decision is the right one,” he added.
Arab leaders have offered solidarity with Qatar. UAE President Sheikh Mohamed met Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, in Doha, a day after Israel's air force struck the Qatari capital in an attempt to kill Hamas leaders.
Sheikh Mohamed reaffirmed the UAE’s resolute solidarity with Qatar and its steadfast support for all measures taken to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and its people, state news agency Wam reported.
It said he stressed that the attack was a breach of Qatar’s sovereignty and of international laws and norms. He warned that such actions threaten the region’s security, stability and prospects for peace.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Jordan's King Abdullah II about the unprecedented attack on a US-allied Gulf state.
Prince Mohammed condemned Israel's attacks and "brutal aggression against the brotherly state of Qatar" in an annual royal speech opening a session of the advisory Shura Council.
The Crown Prince and Prime Minister said that Arab, Islamic, and international action is needed to confront Israel's aggression, and that international measures are needed to "stop the occupation authority and deter it from its criminal practices that destabilise the region's security and stability."
"We will stand with our brotherly state of Qatar in all the measures it takes without limits, and we will dedicate all our capabilities to this end," said the Crown Prince in a speech he delivered on behalf of King Salman.
Jordan's King Abdullah II used a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to offer the kingdom's "unwavering support" for the Palestinian people, the Jordanian royal court said in a statement.
He called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in confronting any threat to regional security, reiterating Jordan's condemnation of Israel’s attack on Qatar.
