“The president views Qatar as a strong ally of the United States. He feels very badly about the location of this attack,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
“He assured them [Qatar] that such a thing will not happen again on their soil,” she added, calling it an “unfortunate incident.”
Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas’ leadership in Qatar’s capital Tuesday as they considered a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
A U.S. official confirmed to Military Times that the U.S. did not participate in the Doha strike, which risked upending the peace talks aimed at concluding the war and freeing hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks against Israel. About 50 hostages remain in Gaza, although it is unclear how many of those hostages are still alive.
Hamas said Tuesday that five of its members were killed in the strike, along with a Qatari security officer, but top leaders had survived the attack.
Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political bureau since 2012 and helped start indirect negotiations between the group and Israel following the October 2023 attacks. Footage showed smoke rising from a heavily damaged section of a complex on Wadi Rawdan Street north of central Doha.
The White House says Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attack, who told him that Israel wanted to quickly make peace.
Qatar is considered a U.S. ally and hosts thousands of American troops. Its leadership condemned the strike as a “flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.”
European leaders also condemned the attack. In a statement, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, “Israel’s strike in Doha not only violates Qatar’s territorial sovereignty, but also jeopardizes all our efforts to secure the hostages’ release.”
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the group launched a terror attack that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages, including American citizens.
Israel’s counteroffensive has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, including women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
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