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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are”, like the heads of the Arab and Islamic states, they held a summit to support Qatar after Israel’s attack last week in the state of the Gulf.
The September 9 strike aimed at leaders of the Palestinian militant group in Doha was a significant escalation of Israeli military action in a region shaken by the conflict from the attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which lit the Gaza War.
While the Arab and Muslim leaders gathered expressed solidarity with Qatar, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, met with Netanyahu and gave a strong support for Israel’s hard line posture, although Washington has expressed concern about Qatar’s strike.
Speaking with Netanyahu in Israel, Rubio said that the only way to end the war in Gaza would be that Hamas fighters free all hostages and surrender. While the United States wants a diplomatic end of war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility of not happening,” he said.
Washington has said that he was not warned beforemanly before Israel attacked Qatar, which houses the largest American military base in the Middle East. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Israel had to be “very, very careful.”
“They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally for the United States,” Trump said.
Trump repeated on Monday his statement that Israel will not hit Qatar again.
Hamas has said that the Israeli strike killed five of its members, including a son of his exile gaza boss, but his leadership survived. Qatar says that one of his security agents also died.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani urged the summit to take “practical and decisive steps” in response to the strike “cowardly and treacherous”, saying what happened while Hamas’ leaders were studying a proposal of high US fire.
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The final statement of the summit, which brought together the states such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, did not contain a language that appeared in a draft seen by Reuters that said the Israeli attack and other “hostile acts” threaten coexistence and efforts to normalize ties in the region.
A separate statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council said that the “continuation of Israel de Israel de Israel de Israel … the future of existing understandings and agreements with Israel.”
The summit statement asked countries to review diplomatic and economic ties with Israel, in what the Secretary General of the Arab League, Secretary General Hossam Zaki said, was an invitation to states that have relations with Israel to review them.
President Abdel Fattaah al-Sisi of Egypt, an American ally signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, told the meeting of Israel’s actions “to put obstacles on the way of any opportunity for any new peace agreements and even abort the existing ones.”
Also on Monday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, organized a separate virtual meeting with the leaders of Canada, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and the United Kingdom focused on the situation in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said in a statement that Carney expressed solidarity with Qatar and agreed to the actions of Israel “to violate Qatar’s sovereignty and represent a serious risk of growing the conflict throughout the region.”
“All leaders agreed that the approach must remain in progress in peace and security, including reaching a durable fire, ensuring the release of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas, and expand the assistance flows to save lives for Palestinian civilians,” he said.
Carney also reaffirmed Canada’s plan to recognize a Palestinian State at the United Nations General Assembly this month, joining France, Great Britain and other countries in a criticized movement for both Israel and the United States.
Rubio will travel to Qatar after his visit to Israel. He asked Qatar to continue playing a constructive role in the resolution of the Gaza conflict, saying that he could help achieve the objectives of releasing the 48 hostages they still have in Gaza, disarming Hamas and building a better future for Gazanes.
But his words together with Netanyahu suggested that Washington now considers a diplomatic solution unlikely and is supporting Israel’s plan for a new important military operation that Netanyahu says he will crush Hamas once and for all.
“As much as we want there to be a peaceful and diplomatic form of finishing it, and we will continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we must also be prepared for the possibility that it does not happen,” said Rubio, calling Hamas “wild terrorists.”
“Hamas needs to cease to exist as an armed element that can threaten the peace and security of the region,” he said.
Netanyahu did not rule out the annexation of the West Bank occupied by Israel in response to the movements of some countries to recognize a Palestinian State in the UN General Assembly at the end of this month. France and Great Britain are among the countries that have said they will.
When asked if Israel was considering extending his sovereignty to the West Bank, Netanyahu said: “A future step is a future step. We do not need to expose it in advance.”
“It is clear that taking unilateral actions against us simply invites unilateral actions on our part,” he said.
While diplomacy was developed in Jerusalem and Doha, the Israeli forces continued their assault on the city of Gaza, where they killed at least 16 Palestinians on strikes in two homes and in a tent that houses a displaced family, local health authorities said.
The army also hit and destroyed a 16 -story building in the west of the city, which is believed to be the highest of Gaza, approximately one hour after the warning, displaced families that take refuge inside and close to leaving. He said the building was being used to hide the “terrorist infrastructure.”
The War in Gaza was triggered by an uproar to the south of Israel by militants of Hamas who killed some 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli stories. Israel responded with an assault that has killed more than 64,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
(Addal Dahan is a Cairo, a
