Qatar PM warns of 'collective response' after Israeli strike

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has called Israel’s strike on Doha “state terror”, adding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” for the hostages remaining in Gaza.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Sheikh Mohammed said: “I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages. I was meeting one of the hostages’ families the morning of the attack. They are counting on this [ceasefire] mediation, they have no other hope for that.”

“I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action… this is state terror,” he told CNN. “We are betrayed.”

Hamas has confirmed that five of its officials were killed in the Israeli strike on Tuesday, including the son and office director of its exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al Hayya, though Al Hayya himself was not among the dead. A Qatari security officer was also killed.

The strike took place barely 30km from Al Udeid Air Base, the forward headquarters of US Central Command and the largest American military installation in the Middle East.

Sheikh Mohammed said he could not predict what Hamas’ response to the latest US principles for a ceasefire would have been had Israel not struck Doha on Tuesday, but said that he believed that Israel and Hamas “are going to run out of chances” to secure a ceasefire.

“I’ve been rethinking, even about the entire process for the last few weeks, that Netanyahu was just wasting our time,” he told CNN. “He wasn’t serious about anything,” he added, as he dismissed recent talks as “meaningless.”

Sheikh Mohammed added the Qataris are “reassessing everything” around their involvement in any future ceasefire talks, and added they are in a “very detailed conversation” with the US government on how to proceed.

He said he hopes there will be a “collective response” from regional allies that “deters Israel from continuing this bullying.”

When asked about the fate of Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al Hayya, he said: “Until now … there is no official declaration.”