Attack is Doha ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages, says Qatari prime minister

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that the recent Israeli airstrike “killed any hope” for the release of Israeli hostages.

In an interview with CNN, Sheikh Mohammed declared, “He (Netanyahu) needs to be brought to justice for violating international law.”

He lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of “wasting” Qatar’s time during negotiations and indicating that he will reconsider whether his country can continue playing a mediator role in the Gaza war.

“I was meeting one of the hostage’s families the morning of the attack,” Al Thani said. “They are counting on this [ceasefire] mediation, they have no other hope for that.”

He added, “I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages.”

On September 9, Israel carried out an airstrike on Doha, the capital of Qatar, targeting the central leadership of Hamas, the Palestinian resistance organization.

Later, Hamas confirmed the deaths of six people in the Israeli strike, though its leadership survived. Those killed included the son of senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayyah and the director of his office.

The Qatari Ministry of Interior also reported that a security officer was killed and another injured in the attack.

Netanyahu, defending the strike, demanded that Qatar expel Hamas leaders or bring them to justice.

He compared the operation to the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, saying, (Screenshot/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on Wednesday against mounting international criticism over Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar the previous day, and compared the operation to US actions in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, despite the strike ostensibly failing to kill any of its intended targets.

He took a defiant tone in an English-language video defending Israel’s actions, and warned Qatar that either it must “expel” the Hamas politburo members or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will.”

“What did America do in the wake of September 11?” Netanyahu asked. “It promised to hunt down the terrorists who committed this heinous crime, wherever they may be. And it also passed a resolution in the Security Council of the UN, two weeks later, that said that governments cannot give harbor to terrorists.”

“We did exactly what America did when it went after the al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and after they went and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.”

In response, the Qatari Foreign Ministry called Netanyahu’s remarks “irresponsible” and “reckless,” stressing that such threats constitute a violation of international law and that Netanyahu must be held accountable for his actions.