Washington, DC – The administration of American president Donald Trump said that he had informed Qatari officials before the attack on Israel against Hamas negotiators in Doha, a complaint refuted by the country of the Gulf.
The declaration of the White House on Tuesday occurred a few hours after the strike in a residential area of the capital of Qatar, Doha. Qatar was a main mediator in cease-fire talks supported by the United States aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
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“The Trump administration was informed by the American army that Israel attacked Hamas, which was unfortunately located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” said White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt, to journalists.
“Bombing unilaterally in Qatar, a sovereign nation and an ally close to the United States which works very hard and courageously take risks with us to negotiate peace, does not advance the objectives of Israel or America,” she said. “However, the elimination of Hamas, which has benefited from the misery of those who live in Gaza, is a worthy objective.”
Leavitt added that Trump had ordered his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to “inform Qataris of the imminent attack”.
However, Qatar refuted characterization, with a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, saying that the statements that the government had been “pre-informed of the attack is completely false”.
“The appeal which was received from an American official came during the sound of the explosions resulting from the Israeli attack in Doha,” Majed al-Ansari wrote in a press release on X.
Qatar Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman, Al Thani, said that the United States’s appeal came ten minutes after the start of the attack, describing the incident as “state terrorism”.
Hamas said the strike had killed five of its members, but that its main negotiation team had survived. Among the dead was an Qatari security officer, said the country’s interior ministry.
Trump later declared that he felt “very badly of the site of the attack” and that he had assured in Qatar that it would not happen again.
“It was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” wrote Trump on his social platform Truth.
He repeated the White House declaration on the attack without advancing the objectives of Israel and the United States, and that he had asked Witkoff to warn Qatar, but it was “unfortunately, too late to stop the attack”.
Hamas keeps us “responsible for responsible”
Qatar had helped negotiate a break in the fighting in Gaza in November 2023 and a six-week ceasefire in January 2025. Its role was regularly congratulated by the administration of former American president Joe Biden and the current President Trump.
Israel struck the center of Doha just a few days after Trump issued the Hamas negotiation team when he was pressured for a new ceasefire. The United States has repeatedly accused Hamas of blocking negotiations. Israel has been accused of having several times excited the talks.
“The Israelis have accepted my conditions. It is time for Hamas to accept too,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
“I warned Hamas from the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another! ”
After the attack, Hamas said the targeted people had discussed Trump’s last proposal.
The group added that the strike “confirms out of doubt that Netanyahu and its government do not want to reach any agreement and deliberately seek to thwart all opportunities and to thwart international efforts”.
“We hold the American administration jointly responsible for the (Israeli) occupation of this crime, because of its continuous support for the assault and the crimes of the occupation against our people,” said the group.
Leavitt, on the other hand, told journalists that Trump “thinks that this unhappy incident could serve as a opportunity for peace”.
She said Trump had spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel after the strike, but did not say if he threatened actions against the ally of the United States.
Qatari Amiri Diwan also confirmed in a statement that the US President held a telephone call with the Emir Qatari Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and condemned the attack.
“For his part, his Highness The Emir said that the state of Qatar condemns and denounces in the strongest terms of this imprudent criminal attack and considers it a blatant violation of its sovereignty and its security and a clear violation of the rules and principles of international law,” said Diwan.
Sheikh Tamim said the attack threatened the region’s stability and obstructed “efforts to defuse and reach sustainable diplomatic solutions”.
“Qatar will take all the necessary measures to protect its security and preserve its sovereignty,” said the statement quoted Sheikh Tamim.
Qatar has indicated that it will not give up, for the moment, its role as mediator.
‘Reduced to nothing’
Despite the declarations of the White House, Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab center of Washington DC, said that many countries and residents of the region will always consider the Trump administration as an accomplice.
“When Israel receives a green light to wreak havoc in the region and violate international law, violate the sovereignty of nations which are not even enemies, but in fact allies very close to the United States, you have to ask yourself: where is in Israel and why would Israel be authorized to do this?” He said.
Qatar, which remained a fervent supporter of Palestinian rights, was appointed “major non-nato ally” in 2022, a status that the American State Department described as a “powerful symbol” of close strategic links and a demonstration of “deep respect for friendship for the countries to which it is extended”.
Jahshan said the honorary, following the Israel strike, had been “reduced to nothing”.
“If this status allows you to be exposed to attacks by an American ally with an American green light, then, for me, I prefer not to have friends like this,” he said.
Qatar also houses the Al Udeid air base, the largest American military installation in the Middle East. With the US Air Force, the base houses Qatar Emiri Air Force, the United Kingdom Royal Air Force and a total of around 10,000 people.
The country has also positioned itself as a diplomatic asset for the United States and other Western powers, for years of political offices of major groups for their foreign policy, including Hamas and the Taliban. Qatari officials said they had agreed to welcome the Hamas office over ten years ago at the request of Washington.
Nabeel Khoury, who was previously deputy chief of the mission at the United States Embassy in Yemen, said that the site of Tuesday’s strike, in the heart of Doha and a few kilometers from Al Udeid, left him amazed.
“As cynical as I am and as used as I am for Israeli excesses, I must say that I was shocked,” he said. “I think everyone should be shocked and should be woken up from the dream in reality that Israel has now become a completely rogue state.”
Khoury said the strike would probably cool diplomacy, further undergoing the credibility of the United States in the region and would take a break from all groups or allies who plan to participate in the negotiations supported by the United States.
“Honestly, I don’t see how someone, especially in the Arab world, can continue to manage the United States,” said Khoury.
Jahshan added that the neighbors of Qatar, including the United Arab Emirates, who normalized relations with Israel in 2020, and Saudi Arabia, which has long been regarded as a jewel of the crown in Israeli-Arab normalization, will feel pressure to gain a strong position.
“If they allow one of them to be the target of such an attack, then they are all targets for such attacks in the future,” he said. “How do they do it?”
