Donald Trump is expected to meet Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Friday evening in New York, just days after US ally Israel carried out an unprecedented air strike on the Qatari capital Doha.
The bombing is the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has hosted multiple rounds of ceasefire talks, and it has been internationally condemned, leaving US diplomacy in the Middle East on a knife-edge.
Since the strikes, Mr Trump has praised Qatar as a “strong ally and friend” and has reportedly held a “heated phone call” with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the Washington Post, in the call, Mr Trump said the air attack on Doha was “not wise”, to which Netanyahu responded that he had a brief window to launch the airstrike, and took the opportunity.
The call came after Mr Trump described the attack as “unfortunate”, and was “very unhappy about the way it went down”, adding that it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals”.
The US has joined members of the UN Security Council in expressing “deep concern” and emphasising “de-escalation” following Israel’s airstrike.
The Security Council statement did not mention Israel by name, but conveyed solidarity with Qatar and the “vital role” it’s played in mediating peace efforts in recent years.
Speaking to the Security Council this week, Mr Thani said: “Israel is trying to rearrange the region by force,” but, he added, "we will continue our humanitarian and diplomatic role without any hesitation in order to stop the bloodshed."
The meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Thani comes ahead of an emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha over the weekend in response to Tuesday’s airstrikes.
Mr Thani will also meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio at the White House in Washington, as well as vice-president JD Vance and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The Qatari prime minister said this week that Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” of a deal to release all the Israeli hostages in Gaza when he ordered the attack, which he described as an act of “state terror”.
Hamas said Israel’s attack missed all its top negotiators, though five of its members were killed, including the son of exiled Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya. Qatar said a security official died and others were wounded.
Mr Netanyahu’s office put out a statement after the strike, which said the attack was “a wholly independent Israeli operation”.
In response to Doha’s outrage over the bombing, Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said that “history will not be kind to accomplices”.
“Either Qatar condemns Hamas, expels Hamas, and brings Hamas to justice. Or Israel will,” Mr Danon said.
Qatar is the sixth country Israel has attacked since the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023, when around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The terror attack prompted a major military onslaught on Gaza in which Israel has killed around 65,000 Palestinians according to local health officials, and destroyed swathes of the strip of land.
