Qatari leaders tell Trump that Israeli strike on Doha harms chances of Gaza ceasefire

WASHINGTON — Qatar’s Emir Tamim and Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani warned US President Donald Trump during phone calls in recent hours that today’s Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders on Qatari soil will only harm efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.

Israel argues that the strike — whose exact results have not been confirmed — actually makes it easier to reach an agreement.

But a senior Qatari official who met earlier Tuesday in Washington with hostage families noted that Israel made the same assertion after it killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024 and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October 2024, a diplomatic source tells The Times of Israel. A hostage deal wasn’t struck until January 2025.

The Qatari official told the hostage families that talks had been progressing in recent days following US President Donald Trump’s public threats against Hamas, the diplomatic source says. A member of the hostage family delegation confirms this account to The Times of Israel.

An Arab mediating source was far less optimistic about the chances for a deal when he spoke to The Times of Israel yesterday, explaining that Hamas has pushed back against the idea of immediately releasing all remaining hostages without concrete guarantees that Israel will not be able to resume the war.

During the meeting with the senior Qatari official in Washington, hostage families expressed their frustration with the Israeli strike, arguing that Hamas’s leaders abroad have not been those dragging their feet on reaching an agreement and were viewed as more flexible than those in Gaza.

During their calls with Trump earlier today, the Qatari emir and premier expressed their outrage over the Israeli strike and said that they expected the US to issue a condemnation, given that it violated international law and took place on the soil of a US ally, the diplomatic source says.

Following the calls, the White House did issue a condemnation, while also lining up behind Israel’s claim that the strikes could present an “opportunity for peace” and that taking out Hamas leaders is a “worthy goal.”