Hamas says chief negotiator survived Israel strike in Qatar

LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago

HAMAS HAS SAID that its chief negotiator in Gaza truce talks, Khalil al-Hayya, survived an Israeli strike on the militant group’s compound in Doha earlier this week.

The unprecedented Israeli strikes on a Gulf state sent shockwaves through the region on Tuesday and halted already floundering Gaza talks.

“Under special security arrangements, Dr Khalil al-Hayya… took part in the funeral prayers in Qatar for his martyred son Hammam and the other martyrs of the cowardly assassination attempt in Doha,” Hamas said in a statement.

Hamas provided no photograph of Hayya at the funeral yesterday for the five Hamas officials and a Qatari guard killed in Tuesday’s strike.

Doha has been a venue for several rounds of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Qatar’s prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has assured the UN Security Council that his country will continue its “diplomatic” role in mediating a ceasefire.

“We will continue our humanitarian and diplomatic role without any hesitation, in order to stop the bloodshed,” he told the UN body, after earlier suggesting a reassessment of his country’s mediation efforts following the Israeli strikes in Doha.

The Security Council condemned the strikes, without naming Israel which carried them out.

In a statement that required the agreement of all 15 council members, including Israel’s ally the US, the council “underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar”.

It came as Hamas accused the US of complicity in the strikes and lambasted Israel for seeking to kill off Gaza truce talks as Doha buried the dead.

Israeli ambassador summoned

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates summoned Israel’s deputy ambassador in a formal rebuke of his country’s unprecedented strikes. 

Advertisement

The UAE, along with Bahrain, was the first Gulf country to normalise ties with Israel in 2020 and has been a frequent critic of its actions since the start of the Gaza war.

“Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, summoned the Israeli Deputy Head of Mission in the United Arab Emirates, David Ohad Horsandi,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

She used the meeting to “strongly condemn and denounce the blatant and cowardly Israeli attack that targeted the State of Qatar, as well as the hostile statements made by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the statement said.

“Any aggression against a GCC member state constitutes an attack on the collective Gulf security framework,” she added, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council regional bloc.

Asked about the summoning, a spokeswoman at the Israeli embassy told AFP that “Israel carried out a targeted strike against senior Hamas leadership who have used Qatar as a base from which to wage war on Israel”.

According to unconfirmed media reports, Israel’s incumbent ambassador to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, was recalled after displaying “undignified” behaviour at a local bar several months ago and for repeatedly failing to follow security protocols.

The Israeli foreign ministry has not confirmed the reports.

Trump meeting

The rebuke comes ahead of an emergency Arab-Islamic summit planned in Doha on Sunday and Monday to discuss a regional response to the attack.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was expected to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington today.

The White House later announced the prime minister would also be dining with US President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has taken part in negotiations over Gaza.

Gulf monarchies including Qatar and the UAE are key US allies.

The White House has said Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action, and had asked Witkoff to warn Qatar when he heard of it, but the attack had already started.