Qatar official says Netanyahu 'killed any hope' of hostage release with
strike in Doha on Hamas
[September 11, 2025]
By JON GAMBRELL, ABDEL KAREEM HANA and WAFAA SHURAFA
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar’s prime minister said Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” of releasing hostages still held in
the Gaza Strip after Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
The comments from Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, ahead of
appearing at the United Nations on Thursday, underscored the wider anger
among Gulf Arab countries over Israel's strike that killed at least six
people.
“I was meeting one of the hostages' families the morning of the attack,”
Sheikh Mohammed told CNN in an interview aired late Wednesday. “They are
counting on this (ceasefire) mediation. They have no other hope for
that.”
Sheikh Mohammed added: “I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday,
he just killed any hope for those hostages.”
His remarks came as thousands of Palestinians continued to flee Gaza
City ahead of Israel's impending offensive there. The numbers leaving
the city have grown in recent days, though many have refused because
they say they no longer have the strength or money to relocate.
The Israeli military's plans for the next phases of its operation in
what it calls Hamas’ last remaining stronghold are aimed at taking over
the largest Palestinian city that's already devastated from earlier
raids and experiencing famine.
The plans have drawn widespread condemnation and add to Israel’s already
unprecedented global isolation, which intensified further this week
following the strike on Qatar.
Qatar's diplomatic push
The attack on the territory of a U.S. ally alarmed countries in the
Mideast and beyond. It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region
and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages
still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Sheikh Mohammed was expected to attend a U.N. Security Council meeting
later Thursday, part of a diplomatic push by Qatar after the strike, and
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was set to visit Doha to
underscore Pakistan’s support for Qatar’s security and sovereignty.
Qatar also said it was organizing an Arab-Islamic summit next week in
Doha to discuss the attack.
Hamas said Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that
five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya
— Hamas’ leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — as well as three
bodyguards and the head of al-Hayya’s office.
Hamas, which has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its
leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that al-Hayya and other
senior figures had survived.
Qatar and Egypt have been key mediators to try and reach a ceasefire in
the war in Gaza. Qatar has hosted Hamas' political leadership for years
in Doha, in part over a request by the U.S. to encourage negotiations
between the militant group and Israel.
There was no immediate reaction to Sheikh Mohammed's remarks from
Netanyahu, whose government has engaged in wars across the region since
Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel.
However, Netanyahu has continued to defend the strikes and threatened
further action against Qatar a day after U.S. President Donald Trump had
sought to ease tensions between the U.S. allies, including by assuring
the Gulf nation that there would be no more such strikes on its soil.
[to top of second column]
|
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC taken on Wednesday, Sept.
10, 2025 shows damage after an Israeli strike targeted a compound
that hosted Hamas' political leadership in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday.
(Planet Labs PBC via AP)
“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either
expel them or you bring them to justice,” Netanyahu said. “Because
if you don’t, we will.”
In what appeared to be the first move by a Gulf Arab state over the
strike, the United Arab Emirates blocked Israeli firms from
participating in the Dubai Air Show in November, Israeli media
reported. The Israeli Defense Ministry told The Associated Press on
Thursday that it had received “the notification from the exhibition
organizers to the industries.”
The air show’s organizers and authorities in the Emirates did not
respond to requests for comment. However, the move would carry
significant diplomatic importance, particularly as the UAE only
diplomatically recognized Israel five years ago.
Displaced Palestinians forced to live on the streets
An estimated 1 million Palestinians — around half of Gaza’s overall
population — live in the area of north Gaza around Gaza City,
according to the Israeli military and the United Nations. On
Wednesday, dozens of vehicles, motorbikes, and donkey carts loaded
with belongings lined the city's coastal road as they tried to
leave.
Amal Sobh, displaced from Beit Lahia with 30 relatives — including
13 orphans — said the three-wheel vehicle carrying their belongings
broke down and they had no fuel, leaving the family stranded.
After one of her boys came down with a fever, the only food or
medicine they were able to get was bread that a passerby gave to
them.
“I have 13 orphans. The one who is in my lap, his temperature is
high like fire,” she told The Associated Press. “I don’t have money
to buy medicine for him.”
Umm Mohamed al-Boghdady said her family lost their tents and
belongings in an Israeli strike.
“The tents are gone, and nothing is left of it, not even clothes and
belongings. We only left with a basil plant.”
Meanwhile in Muwasi, an area at the southern end of the strip where
Israel has encouraged people to move, displaced Palestinians from
northern Gaza struggled to find shelter due to overcrowding and lack
of adequate resources. Many have been forced to live on the streets.
Atwah Awad said aid has not reached her or her family.
“I swear to God, that I do not have a shekel to buy food," she said.
"I slept in the street tonight. Who would accept that I sleep in the
street? No water, no food, no bathrooms.”
More than 64,700 Palestinians killed in the war
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern
Israel in 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly
civilians. Forty-eight hostages are still held inside Gaza, around
20 of them believed to be alive.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,700
Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does
not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and
children make up around half the dead.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
