US President Donald Trump on September 9 spoke out about the Israeli attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar.
President Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social that he tried but “unfortunately it was too late” to stop Israel’s attack on Qatar, a key intermediary in negotiations between Israel and Hamas to end the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza.
“This was a decision made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not me. I consider Qatar a strong ally and friend of the United States, and feel very bad about the location of the attack,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States, which is working hard and courageously with us to broker peace, will not advance the goals of Israel or the United States,” Trump stressed.
President Trump also sought to show that Washington was caught off guard by the Israeli attack. He said the White House had been informed by the US military that Israel was attacking Hamas “and unfortunately, Hamas was in an area of Doha.”
“I immediately directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform Qatar of the impending attack, but unfortunately it was too late to stop it,” Trump said.
The US president added that he had spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu after the attack and tried to put the incident in a positive light. “The prime minister told me that he wants to make peace. I believe that this unfortunate incident can be an opportunity for peace,” Trump stressed.
While Qatar complained about the attack, President Trump said he had now directed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize a defense cooperation agreement with Doha.
Trump added that he had assured Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in a phone call after the Israeli attack that “nothing like this will happen again on their soil.”
Doha had previously said it had not been warned about the attack. “The call from a US official was made at the same time as the explosions from the Israeli attack in Doha,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari wrote on social media X.
Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani stressed that Qatar “reserves the right to respond to this blatant attack”, calling the attack a “crucial moment” for the region. However, he stressed: “Nothing can prevent us from continuing this (mediating) role on all the different issues surrounding us in the region.”
Qatar said the airstrikes targeted the homes of several members of Hamas’ political apparatus residing in the Gulf state. Hamas confirmed that three bodyguards, an assistant and the son of negotiator Khalil al-Hayya were killed in the attack, and asserted that “the enemy did not assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said he ordered the attack in response to a shooting in Jerusalem that killed six people on September 8. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, according to AFP.