IsraelPalestine

This week, Israel launched an unprecedented airstrike on Qatar’s capital, Doha, claiming it was targeting senior Hamas leaders. Qatar, a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, condemned the strike as a violation of international law and branded it an act of “state terrorism.”

How has Israel been able to act with such impunity? And what does this attack mean for the future of ceasefire negotiations in Gaza?

In this UpFront special, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with former Israeli negotiator – Daniel Levy, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies – Phyllis Bennis, and Palestine Project coordinator at the Arab Center in Washington, DC – Hanna Alshaikh.

Leaders from across the region are gathering in the Qatari capital to discuss a formal response to Israel’s strikes on Doha last week, which it said targeted Hamas leadership and reverberated through the Middle East and beyond.

Israel launched the missiles as Hamas members gathered in their Doha office to discuss a deal proposed by United States President Donald Trump to end Israel’s two-year genocidal war on Gaza.

The attack came hours after Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed Israel had accepted the Trump proposal, which would release all 48 captives held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and a ceasefire.

Israel killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security official in the attack, although it did not kill the Hamas leadership it said it was targeting.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the attack on Thursday.

How is Qatar responding?

Qatar has invited leaders from Arab and Islamic countries for meetings that will culminate in the emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that “the summit will discuss a draft resolution on the Israeli attack” that signifies another instance of “state terrorism practised by Israel”.

A meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday will work on the draft, which is expected to add to the international chorus of condemnation for the Israeli attack.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who met Trump in New York on Friday, said Qatar will pursue a collective response to the attack, which has put the entire region at risk.

Qatar has long had a mediation role, working to end Israel’s war on Gaza and generate regional unity.

In the meetings on Sunday and Monday, it will leverage pro-Palestinian sentiment and opposition to Israel’s attacks that have been expressed across the region.

Who is attending?

Leaders from the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the 22-member Arab League will attend.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is confirmed to attend, as are Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

On Saturday, Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani issued what he called a “warning to Islamic governments” and said they must “form a ‘joint operations room’ against the madness” of Israel instead of resorting to mere statements.

The full list of dignitaries in attendance on Monday is yet to be confirmed.

What can come out of the summit?

At the summit, a strongly worded statement against Israel is guaranteed.

The leaders will discuss potential ways they could take action to address Israeli aggression across the region.

Israel has also bombed Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen as its genocidal war on Gaza and military raids on the occupied West Bank continue relentlessly.

The sense of security enjoyed by Qatar and neighbouring states has been shattered, which could prompt them to seek new security or defence arrangements with the US that go beyond buying arms.

There are political considerations at play, however, especially with Washington still offering ironclad support to Israel despite growing international frustration.

As ministers and leaders arrived in Doha on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders. Among other things, they are likely to discuss plans to annex large parts of the West Bank.

That plan has been described by the United Arab Emirates, a member of the US-sponsored Abraham Accords to normalise ties with Israel, as a “red line” that would undermine the agreement.

Saudi Arabia and other regional states being eyed by Israel and the US as future members of the Accords are seen by analysts to be the furthest they have been for years from normalising relations with Israel.

Among the tools that states have at their disposal to respond to rogue aggression are acts like downgrading diplomatic ties.

Arab states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE also have vast financial capabilities at their disposal as leverage, as well as large sovereign wealth funds with international investments that could impose curbs on Israel, including trade limitations.

Qatar has said part of its response will be legal, including through pursuing Israeli violations of international law.

As Israel displaces thousands from the north of the enclave, concerns are growing about worsening conditions in the south.

Thousands of Palestinians are being displaced each day by Israel’s indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza City, which is killing dozens of civilians daily, with families fleeing south towards an uncertain fate in the repeatedly attacked and overcrowded al-Mawasi.

More than 6,000 people were forced to leave the besieged city on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, as the Israeli army continued its relentless bombardment of the area.

Some 900,000 Palestinians are currently left in the city, but the number is decreasing rapidly.

“Gaza City is being emptied building by building, family by family,” Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohamed said.

“Soon, what remains might not be a city, just the memory of one,” he added.

Khalil Matar, a displaced Palestinian fleeing south, said: “We keep moving. There are sick people with us, and we don’t know where to go. There are no safe zones.”

Many of those who are leaving the north are heading on the forced evacuation threats of the Israeli army to al-Mawasi camp, where conditions have been described as beyond dire, crowded, and under-resourced even before the latest mass displacements.

Reports from al-Mawasi, which is often struck by Israeli strikes despite being a so-called “safe zone”, suggest that new arrivals are struggling to find space to pitch their tents.

‘Famine is devouring us too’

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from the al-Mawasi, said the scenes there were “very chaotic” as more and more families arrived, with their belongings placed by the side of the road.

“For almost a whole week, we’ve been trying to figure out a place to shelter in. I have a large family, including my children, my mother and my grandmother,” one displaced Palestinian man told Khoudary.

“Not only are missiles pouring down on our heads, but famine is devouring us too,” he said.

The man added that his family’s tent was not fit for purpose after two years of use, and that he was unsure where they would take shelter.

“Displacement is as painful as eviscerating one’s soul out of the body. We don’t know where to take refuge,” he said. “I’m taking my family into the unknown.”

Speaking from al-Mawasi, displaced journalist Ahmed al-Najjar said the camp was not safe.

“It’s called a safe zone, but we have been living here for months and we know for sure that it’s not safe,” he stressed.

“How can I call it safe when Israel killed and bombed my own sister within this ‘safe zone’?”

Al-Najjar also described being woken up by the “cries and horrific sounds of people being burned alive in a nearby tent”.

Given such dangers as well as the lack of space, some displaced Palestinians have told Al Jazeera that they will be returning to Gaza City from al-Mawasi, in an apparent trend of reverse displacement.

Faraj Ashour, a displaced Palestinian who lost his legs in an Israeli attack, is one of those considering the return journey.

“I went to al-Mawasi, but the costs were too high … and it was almost impossible to find a proper spot without paying extra,” Ashour said.

US secretary of state says Trump was ‘not happy’ about the attack, but the incident will not change ties with Israel.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to arrive in Israel, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as tensions mount in the Middle East over the Israeli attack on Qatar last week.

Rubio’s trip, which begins on Sunday, comes after US President Donald Trump criticised Israel over the unprecedented attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Before departing for Israel, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was “not happy” about the strike, it was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.

But he added that the US and Israel would discuss its impact on efforts for a truce in Israel’s war on Gaza.

“The president wants this to be finished with. And finished with meaning 48 hostages released all at once. Hamas is no longer a threat, so we can move on to the next phase, which is, how do you rebuild Gaza?” he said.

“How do you provide security? How do you make sure Hamas never comes back again? That’s the president’s priority… And part of what we’re going to have to discuss as part of this visit is how the events of last week with Qatar impact that.”

Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.

Israel’s attack on Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US, targeted Hamas leaders who had gathered to discuss a new ceasefire proposal in the war on Gaza put forth by the US. The leadership survived, but six people were killed, including a Qatari security officer.

US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve US or Israeli interests.

The strike also led to broad condemnation from other Arab states, and derailed ceasefire and captive talks brokered by Qatar.

Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, noted that the US and Qatar have expressed a commitment to continue the push for peace.

“However, late on Saturday, Netanyahu said on social media that it’s Israel’s view that the Hamas leadership needs to be driven out of Qatar, because in Israel’s view, Hamas is not committed to peace,” she said.

“So there’s going to be certain discussions about the next steps forward, given that Trump has said he wants to see an end to the war in Gaza,” she said.

For its part, Hamas has repeatedly said it was willing to release all of the captives it took from Israel and cede control of Gaza to an interim Palestinian administration, in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has called for the expulsion of Gaza’s population and signed an agreement on Thursday to move ahead with a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank that would make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible.

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in open defiance of Israeli opposition.

Israeli allies, France and the United Kingdom, alongside several other Western nations, are set to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.

Qatar is hosting Arab and Muslim leaders to plot a course of action after Israel’s ‘cowardly’ attack on Doha.

The sound of an Israeli bomb interrupted Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud during a live broadcast as he explained that fighter jets have been striking buildings in Gaza City every 10–15 minutes since this morning. Israel says its forces are “increasing the pace of attacks” on the city.

The Israeli offensive on Gaza City is displacing thousands of starving Palestinians.

Prior to talks with Trump, Sheikh Mohammed met US Secretary of State Rubio, who is heading to Israel to pledge continued support.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is meeting United States President Donald Trump in New York in the wake of Israel’s deadly strike on Doha this week.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the country’s foreign minister, has been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in the US since Israel’s attack on a Hamas meeting in Doha on Tuesday, which killed a Qatari security official and five Hamas members who were discussing a new deal proposed by Trump to end the Gaza war.

Ahead of Friday’s dinner meeting with the US president, Sheikh Mohammed met US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, where they discussed Israel’s strikes and the US-Qatar security arrangement, according to Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett.

Washington counts Qatar, which hosts its Al Udeid airbase in the desert outside Doha, as a strong Gulf ally.

Trump has already said he was “very unhappy” about Israel’s targeting of Qatar, which appeared designed to derail ongoing Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks.

“The concern is that the relationship between Qatar and the United States has become increasingly complicated as a result of those strikes, so they’re looking for a path forward on both of those issues,” said Al Jazeera’s Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC.

Halkett said Friday’s scheduled meeting with Trump would “continue the conversations regarding Israel’s attack on Doha earlier this week and the negotiations to end Israel’s war on Gaza”.

The location and time of the dinner remain unclear, but Trump is currently in New York and is staying at his eponymous Manhattan tower.

Balancing act

This week has also seen the Trump administration engaged in a balancing act between Middle East allies and Israel.

The issue was brought to the fore on Thursday, when the US – which traditionally shields Israel on the international stage – joined fellow members of the United Nations Security Council in condemning the country for its attack on Qatar.

But in what appears to be a show of continued support for Israel, Rubio will arrive in Israel this weekend for a two-day visit before attending an upcoming UN summit on September 22, where a number of Western countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

That meeting signals growing international momentum towards a viable post-conflict settlement for Israel and Palestine, which was manifest at Friday’s meeting of the UN General Assembly, which endorsed a resolution pushing for a revival of the two-state solution.

France and Saudi Arabia have been instrumental in pushing for “collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, which has so far killed at least 64,756 people.

During his visit to Israel, Rubio will speak to leaders about “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions, including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism”, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

“He will also emphasise our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home,” Pigott added.

Israeli forces have rounded up and arrested Palestinians en masse in the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem. The operation is being described as “collective punishment” after several Israeli soldiers were injured in an attack.

Palestinians face mass arrests, displacement in the occupied territory as Netanyahu pushes settlement expansion.

Israeli forces have sealed off entrances to Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, further escalating a campaign of raids, arrests and collective punishment that has displaced thousands of Palestinians as the military relentlessly destroys Gaza.

Footage from Thursday night shared by residents showed soldiers marching Palestinians in lines through the streets in what many described as a humiliating show of force.

Tulkarem Governor Abdullah Kamil appealed to the international community on Friday, urging the United Nations General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and humanitarian groups to act against what he called “crimes” being committed against the city’s nearly 100,000 residents.

Kamil said Israeli forces were “arbitrarily and unjustly” carrying out mass arrests, storming homes, destroying property and “terrorising children and women”, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

On Thursday, Israeli forces in Tulkarem were allegedly struck by what Israel called an explosive device that injured two Israeli soldiers.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Doha, described “videos of the Israeli forces dragging hundreds and hundreds of Palestinians from their homes, from their cafes, from even a garage … in a show of humiliation”.

“They’re trying to remind everyone that if there is any incident in any place in the occupied West Bank that they do not like … they’re going to crack down, not just on the perpetrators … but on everyone in that vicinity,” said Ibrahim.

She added that Israel’s crackdown has displaced “tens of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes … rendering the city, the refugee camps into ghost towns”. Ibrahim said Palestinians see this as part of a broader policy, with Israeli forces trying “to crack down on Palestinians and really … remind them who has the upper hand and control in the occupied West Bank”.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, five young Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli forces in the village of Deir Jarir, Wafa reported. One of the injured was arrested before receiving medical treatment, according to the village council. Israeli soldiers also closed the village entrance for several hours.

Israeli troops stormed Nablus and the nearby town of Beit Furik at dawn on Friday, raiding several neighbourhoods in the Old City and surrounding areas.

Witnesses said shops were ransacked, while in Beitin, east of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers seized a house and converted it into a military barracks.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the raids, saying international silence had emboldened Israel to press ahead with unilateral measures aimed at destabilising the territory.

‘There will be no Palestinian state’

The escalation comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advances an illegal settlement expansion plan that would all but eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state.

On Thursday, he signed an agreement to push forward with construction in the so-called E1 area near the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, several kilometres to the east of Jerusalem.

“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” Netanyahu declared at the signing ceremony, adding: “We are going to double the city’s population.”

The project, which has been driven by far-right ministers in the government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, covers a 12sq km (4.6sq mile) stretch of land and foresees 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers. Critics say the plan would cut off large parts of the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem while linking together major settlement blocs.

Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal, regardless of whether they have Israeli government approval.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially moved forward with a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank that would make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible.

The Israeli leader signed an agreement on Thursday to move ahead with the project, which would bisect the West Bank.

“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.

“We are going to double the city’s population.”

The settlement, on a 12sq-km (4.6sq-mile) tract of land east of Jerusalem, is known as “East 1” or “E1”.

The development plan, which includes 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers, would cut off much of the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem while linking up thousands of Israeli settlements in the area.

East Jerusalem carries particular significance to Palestinians as their choice for the capital of a future Palestinian state.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.

Reporting for Al Jazeera from Amman, Jordan, because Israel has banned Al Jazeera from the West Bank and Israel, Hamdah Salhut explained that this expansion is controversial because it destroys any territorial continuity from the West Bank to East Jerusalem, further dismantling any possibility that there could be a Palestinian state in the future.

Palestinian leaders push back

Palestinian Authority presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh on Thursday insisted that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is the key to peace in the region. He called it and the two-state solution “inevitable” despite Netanyahu’s move.

Rudeineh condemned Israeli settlements as illegal under international law and accused Netanyahu of “pushing the entire region towards the abyss”.

He noted that 149 United Nations member states have already recognised Palestine and called on all countries that have not yet done so to recognise a Palestinian state immediately.

How did we get here?

Netanyahu has long championed settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and fought any efforts towards peace between Israel and Palestine. He railed against the signing of the Oslo Accords, two agreements in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that many hoped would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.

“I de facto put an end to the Oslo Accords,” Netanyahu was caught on video boasting in 2001.

In 1997 during his first term as prime minister, Netanyahu helped establish the settlement of Har Homa in East Jerusalem, CNN reported. He added in an interview with the Israeli news site NRG that a Palestinian state would never be formed while he was in office.

More recently, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said settlements such as E1 will help erase Palestine from the map, even as Palestinian statehood gains increasing recognition from UN member states.

“This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,” Smotrich said.

The UN General Assembly demanded in September 2024 that Israel end its presence in the West Bank by withdrawing its military, immediately stopping work on new settlements and evacuating settlers from occupied land.

More than 100 nations voted for the resolution. Fourteen voted against.

The vote followed an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 that said Israel’s continued presence in occupied territory was unlawful and Israel was “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian Territory”.

Netanyahu called the opinion a “decision of lies”.

More recently, 21 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan, condemned Israel’s plan to build its new settlement.

Germany announced on Thursday that it will back a France-led proposal for a two-state solution, the Bloomberg news agency reported. Berlin is planning to support a UN resolution this week to adopt the New York Declaration, led by France and Saudi Arabia and calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and a right to return for refugees.

Belgium, France and Malta have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly session this month. Other countries, including Australia, Canada and the UK, have announced conditional recognitions, but it has remained unclear whether they will do so at the gathering.

The situation in the West Bank and Gaza

The settlement expansion news comes amid escalating violence.

On Monday, six people were killed in a shooting attack in Jerusalem when two Palestinian gunmen attacked a bus stop at the Ramot Junction. Several others were wounded.

Israeli forces responded by storming towns and demolishing the homes of the Palestinian suspects in the West Bank.

Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that nearly 100 men were arrested in Tulkarem in the West Bank. The arrests came after an attack that “lightly wounded two soldiers,” Haaretz reported, quoting the Israeli army.

In Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed at least 64,656 people and wounded 163,503 since it began in October 2023, Netanyahu is continuing to push “voluntary migration“, a euphemism for forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.

The United Nations Security Council has condemned the Israeli attack on the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday and called for de-escalation in a statement agreed by all 15 members, including Israel’s chief ally, the United States.

Council members issued the statement ahead of the emergency meeting on Thursday, which was convened to discuss Israel’s attacks targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, as it ramped up its offensive in Gaza City, forcing more than 200,000 to flee.

Five Hamas members were killed, but the Palestinian group said its leadership survived the assassination bid. A Qatari security force member was also killed in the unprecedented attack, which has sent tensions in the region skyrocketing.

Hamas leaders were meeting to discuss a new deal proposed by US President Donald Trump when the attack happened.

“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar,” said the statement, drafted by France and the United Kingdom, which nonetheless stopped short of explicitly mentioning Israel.

It also emphasised that “releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza” were “top priority”. More than 40 captives are still held in Gaza, but only 20 of them are believed to be alive.

The US, which traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations, appeared to deliver a strong rebuke to Israel, reflecting President Donald Trump’s purported unhappiness with the attack.

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said: “Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation working very hard and bravely taking risks alongside the United States to broker peace, does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals.”

“That said, it is inappropriate for any member to use this to question Israel’s commitment to bringing their hostages home,” she continued.

Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said that diplomatic sources had told him the US “pushed back” against stronger language against Israel in the statement, which was nonetheless “highly significant”.

However, Shea had made it clear that “the US cannot and will not defend Israel’s attack on Qatar”.

“Clearly, the US still backs Israel. Clearly, the US will still … protect Israel in the Security Council, but this was a bridge too far for the United States,” said Elizondo.

“It will be interesting to see in the coming hours and days if we even get more clarification from the White House on this,” he added.

After Tuesday’s attack, the White House had said President Trump was not notified in advance. Upon learning of the attack, the president had allegedly asked his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar immediately, but the attack had already started.

‘A new and perilous chapter’

The Security Council statement highlighted “support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”, underlining the country’s crucial role as “a key mediator” in peace talks between Israel and Hamas.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani flew in from Doha for the marathon three-hour session, telling the UNSC that Doha would continue its humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, but would not tolerate further breaches of its security and sovereignty.

Blasting Israel’s leaders as “arrogant”, he said that the timing of the attacks during mediation efforts showed that the country intended to derail them. “Israel is undermining the stability of the region impetuously,” he said.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo described Qatar as a “valued partner in advancing peacemaking” and expressed concern over Israel’s recklessness, saying that the strikes represented an “alarming escalation”.

She pointed out that Israel’s war on Gaza had killed tens of thousands of people and almost completely destroyed Gaza, noting that the situation in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, had “continued to spiral downward”.

She also noted Israel’s other “dangerous escalations” across the region, involving Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

“The Israeli attack on Doha potentially opens a new and perilous chapter in this devastating conflict, seriously threatening regional peace and stability,” she said.

‘A sign of madness’

In other interventions, Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, said: “Israel behaves as if law does not exist, as if borders are illusions, as if sovereignty itself is a dispensable motion, as if the UN charter is an ephemeral text.”

Noting Israel’s attacks on Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and “renowned peace broker” Qatar, he added: “This is not strength, it is recklessness. It is a sign of madness. It is the conduct of an extremist government, emboldened by immunity [and] impunity. A government driving the region and the whole world toward the abyss.”

Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, said Israel carried out its strike on Hamas leaders, who had directed attacks planned in the “luxury confines of Doha”.

Danon said these were the “sole targets” of the attack, adding that they were “terrorists” rather than “legitimate politicians, diplomats, or representatives”.

Al Jazeera’s Elizondo said the prevailing sentiment at the session was that “the world clearly stands behind Qatar”.

“It was widespread support for Qatar and widespread condemnation of Israel,” he said. “You also saw countries wanting accountability for Israel’s continued crimes.”

Israel’s latest forced displacement order for Gaza City is one too many for Nahd al-Rafati. He is refusing to leave, weary of what seems like a never-ending cycle of expulsion.

Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia – Pro-Palestinian participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, seeking to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza, are adamant that they will continue their mission, despite two attacks on their vessels this week.

Attacks on the vessels docked at Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia from projectiles on Monday night and Tuesday night led to no casualties, but have shaken flotilla participants.

Organisers have blamed Israel for the attacks and said the boats were hit by drones. Tunisian authorities acknowledged the attacks but said no drones were detected, promising an investigation.

“We are definitely sailing to Gaza, there is nothing that will prevent us sailing to Gaza whatsoever,” said Tara Reynor O’Grady, a 55-year-old Irish human rights activist. “Don’t be distracted by the strikes, they are made to confuse people, then a lot of panic happens, a lot of false information goes around, but we are determined, we are clear and focused in the way we have to achieve our goal, which is to reach Gaza, break the siege and open a humanitarian sea corridor.”

Hundreds of volunteers had assembled on Wednesday at Sidi Bou Said, preparing to set sail. Boats had arrived from Spain on Sunday, with more vessels joining from Tunisia.

However, the flotilla, named after the Arabic word for perseverance, is yet to depart from Tunisia, with preparations continuing.

According to organisers, the plan is for a first wave of vessels – the ones in the best condition – to set sail together to a point in the Mediterranean Sea, where they will rendezvous with other boats departing from ports in Italy and Greece.

Meanwhile, several vessels are still expected to arrive in Tunisia from the first leg, which departed from Barcelona last week. Once repaired and stocked, these ships will form a second wave, departing after the first, meeting up with the rest of the flotilla, and setting course towards the Palestinian shores of the Gaza Strip.

Determined to continue

The attacks earlier this week hit two of the flotilla’s ships – the Family boat, which has had several members of the flotilla’s steering committee, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, on board; and the Alma.

Tadhg Hickey, an Irish comedian, writer and filmmaker who has been on board the Alma, told Al Jazeera that the attacks were “mere distractions”.

“As a team, we remain relaxed and focused on putting our comprehensive training into action, and first and foremost our primary goal of breaking the immoral, illegal siege of Gaza,” Hickey said.

The flotilla’s steering committee has insisted that the vessels will continue on their way to Gaza despite the attacks.

“Israel continues to breach international law and terrorise us. We will sail to break the blockade on Gaza no matter what they do,” one steering committee member, Saif Abukeshek, said.

Some flotilla participants have had to field anguished calls from family members worried about their safety.

“My mother found out about the attack while I was asleep, and she is really struggling,” said one volunteer, who insisted she would carry on to Gaza.

Meanwhile, other activists are worried that they may not be able to get a place on a vessel – with the number of people hoping to join the flotilla now exceeding the available places on participating ships – the exact number of which has been guarded for security reasons.

“I hope I can get a spot in one of the ships, but I think it’s going to be difficult,” said Andrea, a Mexican activist living in Austria.

Israeli forces killed more than 70 people in Gaza on Wednesday and launched deadly attacks on Yemen after earlier strikes on Hamas delegation in Doha, Qatar.

Downing Street later stressed that ‘the UK and Israel are longstanding allies’ despite their differences.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticised Israel’s “man-made famine” in Gaza following a controversial meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in London.

“They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations,” a Downing Street spokesperson said following the meeting on Wednesday.

Starmer “implored Israel to change course” in Gaza, the spokesperson said.

The rare rebuke marks one of Starmer’s strongest criticisms of Israel since taking office in July 2024. It also comes as aid groups warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic hunger after nearly two years of bombardment and blockade.

Herzog’s visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech.

“There’s a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it,” a protester told Al Jazeera.

“This is not diplomacy,” said another protester.

“You are aiding and abetting a genocide – and this man is not welcome in our country.”

The meeting between Herzog and Starmer came a day after Israel launched an air strike on Qatar, a close ally of the United States and the UK, that targeted a Hamas leadership delegation.

The Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer told Herzog the strike on Doha was “unacceptable” and condemned it as “a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty”.

Despite the sharp words, the spokesperson added that “the UK and Israel are longstanding allies”.

Speaking after his meeting with Starmer, Herzog confirmed the two leaders had “argued out of respect”.

“Things were said that were tough and strong,” Herzog said, adding, “Clearly, we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies.”

Herzog also said that he had invited the UK to send “a fact-finding mission” to Israel “to study the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.

Herzog previously said publicly that the “entire [Palestinian] nation” was responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel, and two months later, he was witnessed personally signing artillery shells due to be fired into Gaza.

In parliament earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn asked: “What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?”

Starmer defended his decision to meet Herzog, rejecting calls to cut diplomatic ties. “I will not give up on diplomacy,” he said.

“That is the politics of students.”

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that there must be a “collective response” to Israel’s attack on the Qatari capital Doha, as Arab leaders rushed to the tiny Gulf nation to express solidarity.

“There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” he told US media outlet CNN on Wednesday, adding that “the entire Gulf region is at risk”.

“We are hoping for something meaningful that deters Israel from continuing this bullying,” Sheikh Mohammed added, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of leading the region into “chaos”.

“We understand some sort of regional meeting will be held here in Qatar. We know that the countries have pulled together their own legal team. They are looking at all legal avenues to have Netanyahu tried for breaking international law,” Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said.

“So yeah, the pressure is definitely mounting on Israel, not only from Qatar, but obviously on a regional and a wider international level. And that’s what I think he’s obviously trying to do in giving these very forceful statements to the US network, CNN.”

The Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday as they were meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by US President Donald Trump. At least seven people were killed in the attack, but Hamas said its leadership survived the assassination bid. Qatar says two of its security officers were killed in the attack that has drawn global condemnation.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israel’s attack in a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “These strikes are unacceptable. I condemn them. I reaffirmed France’s commitment to the sovereignty and security of Qatar,” he posted on X.

The attack was part of a wider wave of Israeli strikes extending beyond its immediate borders, and marked the sixth country attacked in just 72 hours and the seventh since the start of this year. On Wednesday, Israel killed 35 people in an attack on Yemen.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on Wednesday that Israel’s strike on Qatar is a warning to oil-rich Gulf countries that they would not be spared in the future if armed groups in the region are defeated.

“We are on the side of Qatar that was subjected to an aggression and we also stand with the Palestinian resistance,” Naim Kassem said. He added that the Israeli strike is part of its attempts to create a “Greater Israel” in large parts of the Middle East.

The “Greater Israel” concept supported by ultranationalist Israelis is understood to refer to an expansionist vision that lays claim to the occupied West Bank, Gaza, parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan.

Israel has been accused of committing genocide in Gaza by numerous rights groups, but that has not stopped it from its brutal campaign of bombardment. On Wednesday, Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 72 people, taking the total number of Palestinians killed since October 2023 to more than 64,656. Israel has intensified its assault to capture Gaza City – home to more than one million Palestinians.

Sheikh Mohammed, the Qatari prime minister, also said that the Israeli strike was aimed at undermining “any chance of peace” in Gaza.

“Everything about the meeting is very well known to the Israelis and the Americans. It’s not something that we are hiding,” he said of the presence of Hamas officials in Qatar.

“I think that what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu did yesterday – he just killed any hope for those [Israeli] hostages,” Sheikh Mohammed said about the 20 captives believed to be still alive in Gaza.

Netanyahu appears unfazed

However, Netanyahu appears unfazed by the criticism from global leaders, including the UN secretary-general.

On Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister threatened further attacks on Qatar. “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu said.

Qatar has condemned Netanyahu’s “reckless” comments regarding Qatar’s hosting of the Hamas office. “Netanyahu is fully aware that the hosting of the Hamas office took place within the framework of Qatar’s mediation efforts requested by the United States and Israel,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

It also called out “the shameful attempt therein to justify the cowardly attack that targeted Qatari territory, as well as the explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty”.

Netanyahu’s threats came despite the US President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying no further attacks would happen on Qatari soil.

The attack on Tuesday was the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and hosts the region’s largest United States military base, Al Udeid airbase, which hosts US troops.

The Qatari prime minister, who is also the foreign minister of the Gulf nation, has dubbed Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday “state terrorism”.

“I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action … we are betrayed,” he said in the interview with the cable network.

Netanyahu “needs to be brought to justice. He’s the one who’s wanted at the International Criminal Court. He broke every international law,” Sheikh Mohammed said, referring to the arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister for war crimes.

Arab states express solidarity with Qatar

Meanwhile, Gulf leaders have visited Doha to rally around Qatar, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan calling the Israeli action “criminal” and a threat to regional stability.

In a meeting on Wednesday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Sheikh Al Nahyan reaffirmed his country’s “resolute solidarity with Qatar and its steadfast support for all measures taken to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its people”, according to the UAE state media outlet WAM.

“He [Sheikh Al Nahyan] stressed that the criminal attack constituted a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and of all international laws and norms, warning that such actions threaten the region’s security, stability, and prospects for peace,” WAM added.

The crown princes of Kuwait and Jordan also travelled to Doha on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, will arrive in Doha on Thursday.

“We will stand with the State of Qatar in all measures it takes, without limits, and we will harness all our capabilities for that,” Prince Mohammed said in an address to the Shura Council on Wednesday.

“We reject and condemn the attacks of the Israeli occupation in the region, the latest of which was the brutal aggression against the State of Qatar,” the crown prince added.

“This requires Arab, Islamic, and international action to confront this aggression and to take international measures to stop the occupation authority and deter it from its criminal practices aimed at destabilising the region’s security and stability.”

In a brief interview with reporters on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he was “not thrilled” about Israel’s strike.

“This was a decision made by [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Still, it remains unclear whether the Trump administration had been caught off guard, whether the US had indicated even tacit approval for such a strike, or if the attack could represent a rupture in Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel.

Independent Middle East Analyst Adam Shapiro said if the US was not made aware of the attack, it was not “something new”.

“I think this is just simply the way Israel continually acts as the tail wagging the US dog, doing what it wishes, when it wishes, and getting what it wants, according to a double standard,” he told Al Jazeera.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha, drawing near universal condemnation and, according to analysts, crossing all previous red lines.

The attack reportedly targeted Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza leader and main negotiator, who has risen up the ranks after Israel assassinated Yahya Sinwar in Gaza and Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last year. Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political office since 2012 at the request of the United States, according to Qatari officials.

The attack came as Doha, which hosts the US’s largest military base in the region, hosted ongoing ceasefire talks to try and end Israel’s war on Gaza, which has now killed more than 64,600 people and wounded more than 163,000 since October 2023.

Immediately after Israel’s attack, a wave of conflicting information and speculation emerged, particularly over whether or not the US had been informed of the attack.

How was the attack planned, who knew about it, and why did it happen now?

What do we know?

Israel admitted to the attack almost immediately.

“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” a statement by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israeli media claimed the operation included the use of 15 Israeli fighter jets that dropped 10 bombs. It also included the use of drones.

The attack targeted Hamas leadership, who were meeting to discuss US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal, but they survived. However, six others, including a Qatari security officer, were killed.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called the assault “state terrorism”, promising to respond to the strikes, which he said “must not be overlooked”.

How long had it been planned for?

Israeli media claims the operation, which was labelled “Summit of Fire”, took “months of preparation”.

Israeli officials also told CNN that the decision to attack Doha was taken a while ago, while planning took place over two to three months, accelerating in recent weeks.

During the actual attack, Netanyahu was stationed in the Shin Bet domestic intelligence headquarters.

Until now, Qatar has been the base for negotiations between Hamas and Israel. Due to that fact and the presence of a US military base in Doha, many believed it to be off limits to Israeli attacks.

But that veil of safety seems to have been part of Israel’s plan, defence analyst Hamze Attar said.

“Israel [has been] incubating that Doha is a safe zone for Hamas leadership to gather,” Attar, who is based in Luxembourg, told Al Jazeera. “This is not an operation that happens in a day or two. This is something you create for many years in order to create a safe haven for someone so they keep going there and [eventually] eliminate them in a way they do not expect.”

Whose airspace did Israel use to travel to Qatar?

It’s not entirely clear.

When Israel attacked Iran earlier in the year, its planes used Syrian and Iraqi airspace, since neither country has the capacity to shoot down Israeli planes.

Jordan, which does have air defence systems, claimed Israel did not use its airspace for the attack.

Why did Israel attack now?

While the operation had been planned for months, Netanyahu said it was a response to a shooting in occupied East Jerusalem that killed six people on Monday.

But some analysts doubt Netanyahu’s explanation.

Right before the attack, Trump was ramping up his calls for a ceasefire. Netanyahu, however, may not be interested in a deal.

“I think the bottom line here is that Israel clearly is not interested in any kind of ceasefire or negotiations for a ceasefire, that the reports about Trump’s proposal negotiating with Hamas, whatever this revised new offer was, was all a ruse and theatre and clearly a coordinated Israel-US attack in Doha,” Mairav Zonszein, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst on Israel, told Al Jazeera.

Other patterns have also emerged that cast doubt on Netanyahu’s explanation.

For months, Israel’s premier has also launched military attacks that coincide with demands that he appear in court. Netanyahu is currently on trial over corruption charges.

And on Wednesday, Netanyahu returned to court to testify in his corruption trial. Footage showed Netanyahu entering the courtroom in Tel Aviv as proceedings in the trial resumed for the first time in more than a month.

The attack also came amid Israeli demands that Palestinians leave Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands are taking refuge from Israel’s war on Gaza. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times and can no longer afford to evacuate, which could lead to many more civilian casualties amid already growing international pressure over what scholars and human rights groups are calling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, where famine has been declared.

Did the US know about the attack?

The White House, including Trump himself, said the US government was informed about the attack, but did not give many details.

“The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Leavitt said that Trump told US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to “inform the Qataris of an impending attack”.

With the US Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, analysts said it would be difficult for Israel to pull off such an attack without being detected by the Americans.

Still, despite the advanced knowledge, the US expressed discontent over Israel’s actions.

Trump said he was “not thrilled” by the attack when interviewed by reporters.

“This was a decision made by [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

This sentiment was bolstered by Leavitt, who told reporters during a press conference: “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals. However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”

Was Qatar informed?

Qatari officials said that by the time they were informed of the preplanned attack, explosions were already ringing out across Doha.

Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said the call from the US came 10 minutes after the attack had already begun.

Furthermore, Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said claims that the government had been “pre-informed of the attack are completely false”.

“The call that was received from an American official came during the sound of the explosions that resulted from the Israeli attack in Doha,” al-Ansari wrote in a statement on X.

Israel’s attack that killed six in Doha draws criticism from across the world as Israeli troops continue to bombard Gaza.

Israel’s military described its attack on a residential complex in central Doha, Qatar, as a “precise” attack.

In an official statement on Tuesday, the Palestinian movement Hamas said the attack killed five of its members, and a Qatari officer, but did not eliminate its negotiating delegation or any of its senior leadership.

Here is what we know about the victims, and the senior leaders who were targeted – but who appear to have survived the attack:

Who is Khalil al-Hayya?

Reports say the strike targeted senior Hamas figures, including Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza leader and main negotiator.

Al-Hayya rose in importance after the killings of top Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, and military commander Mohammed Deif last year. Sinwar, who had taken charge in Gaza after Haniyeh’s death, was killed later in 2024.

With those losses, al-Hayya is now one of five leaders steering Hamas’s leadership council.

The leadership council refers to the temporary, five-member ruling committee that was formed in late 2024 to govern the group during the war.

Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, al-Hayya has been part of Hamas since it was set up in 1987, but he became especially important on the diplomatic front, based mainly in Qatar, which became the main hub for mediation with other countries, including Israel, Egypt, and the United States.

Operating outside Gaza allowed him to travel and coordinate between neighbouring countries without the constraints of the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Al-Hayya has also led Hamas’s delegations in mediated talks with Israel to try to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Al-Hayya’s own family have suffered as a result of Israeli attacks: During the 2014 war, an Israeli strike destroyed the house of his eldest son, Osama, killing him, his wife, and three of their children, and during Tuesday’s attack, his son, Humam, was also killed.

But he stressed that the loss of any lives is tragic. “The blood of the leadership of the movement is like the blood of any Palestinian child,” he told Al Jazeera.

Who else is believed to be targeted and who was killed during the attack?

Zaher Jabarin is believed to also have been a target of Israel’s attack. He currently serves as the movement’s chief financial administrator.

Earlier in 1993, Israel arrested Jabarin and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He spent almost two decades in prison before being released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange.

Following his release, Jabarin rose quickly through Hamas ranks. He became head of the group’s financial bureau, managing and overseeing an extensive investment and funding network. He currently also heads Hamas in the occupied West Bank, and he is one of the five members of the leadership council.

The leaders assassinated during Israel’s attack in Qatar also include:

• Jihad Labad – director of al-Hayya’s office
• Humam al-Hayya – al-Hayya’s son
• Abdullah Abdul Wahid – bodyguard
• Moamen Hassouna – bodyguard
• Ahmed al-Mamluk – bodyguard

The sixth person killed, according to Qatar, was Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya).

Who are the current leaders of Hamas?

With many of Hamas’s leadership killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, the group formed a five-man leadership council – which includes al-Hayya and Jabarin – and also has a senior military figure in Gaza itself.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad

Al-Haddad became the most senior Hamas military leader in the Gaza Strip after Sinwar’s death. Israel considers him one of the masterminds behind October 7 and has placed him on its most-wanted list. He is not a member of the five-man leadership council.

Khaled Meshaal

Khaled Meshaal, 68, has been a senior political leader of Hamas, a Palestinian resistance movement, since the 1990s. He became known when Israeli agents attempted to inject a slow-acting lethal chemical into his ear on a public street in Jordan, but the operation was botched, and the men were soon arrested. He is now based in Qatar, serving on the leadership council.

“It is true that in reality, there will be an entity or a state called Israel on the rest of Palestinian land,” Meshaal has said. “But I won’t deal with it in terms of recognising or admitting it.”

Mohammad Darwish

He is also based in Qatar, and is the nominal head of Hamas’s leadership council. According to reports, in early 2025, he met Turkiye’s President Erdogan and publicly endorsed the idea of a technocratic or national unity government for post-war Gaza.

Nizar Awadallah

Awadallah is a long-time Hamas leader. He is seen as one of Hamas’s original members and has held several important positions, including in its armed wing. Since the October 7 attacks, he has not spoken publicly or appeared in the media.