Israel attack aimed to halt Gaza talks: Qatar Emir

Doha: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani accused Israel of trying to derail Gaza ceasefire efforts with its attack on Hamas in Doha, as Arab and Muslim leaders held emergency talks on Monday to discuss a unified response.

The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit was called by Qatar to pile pressure on Israel, which has been facing mounting calls to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

On behalf of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice-President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, arrived in Doha to lead the UAE delegation.

The delegation includes Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Fadhel Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Defence Affairs; Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Minister of State; Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State; Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Minister of State; and Saeed Mubarak Al Hajeri, Minister of State.

Hamas says top officials survived last week’s air strike in Doha, which killed six people and triggered a wave of criticism, including a rebuke from US President Donald Trump.

Qatar has been a key mediator in talks to end the war in Gaza - alongside Egypt and the United States - and the Israeli strike came as Hamas officials were discussing a new US proposal.

“Whoever works diligently and systematically to assassinate the party with whom he is negotiating, intends to thwart the negotiations,” Sheikh Tamim said in his opening remarks.

“Negotiations, for them, are merely part of the war.”

The Emir also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “dreams of turning the Arab region into an Israeli sphere of influence, and this is a dangerous illusion”.

A draft final statement from the summit seen by AFP warned that Israel’s “brutal” aggression “threatens all that has been achieved on the path toward establishing normal relations with Israel, including existing and future agreements”.

Israel and the United States have been trying to expand the Abraham Accords, which established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020.

As the meeting opened in Doha, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting Israel in a demonstration of Washington’s steadfast support.

Rubio will head to Qatar, also a staunch Washington ally, on Tuesday, a US official said.

On Sunday, Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a preparatory meeting that “the time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed”.

According to the draft statement, the nearly 60-country grouping in Doha will also emphasise “the concept of collective security... as well as the necessity of aligning together to face common challenges and threats”.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was among those present, as were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also attended.

Separately, the United Nations Human Rights Council said it would host an urgent debate on Tuesday on Israel’s air strike in Qatar.

And an extraordinary meeting of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council would also be held in Doha on Monday, according to Saudi state media.

Aziz Algashian, a Saudi-based researcher of international relations in the Middle East, said “many people are looking at actions, not just rhetoric” from the Arab-Islamic meeting in Doha.

“We’ve exhausted all forms of rhetoric. Now it’s just going to have to be actions - and we’ll see what those actions will be,” he said.

- with inputs from WAM