WASHINGTON: Qatar’s prime minister will meet top US officials on Friday and is expected to discuss an Israeli attack in Qatar and the status of talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, which has been under a mounting Israeli assault.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio at the White House in Washington, the State Department said late on Thursday.
Politico and Axios reported the prime minister was also expected to meet President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, escalating its military action in the Middle East.
The strike was widely condemned around the world as an act that could further escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned the attack in Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel’s ally the US.
Washington also counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a mediator in trying to arrange a deal for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and for a plan on a post-conflict Gaza.
Trump said on Tuesday Israel’s decision to strike Qatar was made by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not by the Republican leader, who added that a unilateral attack on Qatar does not serve American or Israeli interests. Trump has said he was not happy about the strike.
Trump had vowed to end Israel’s war in Gaza when he took office in January but that objective has remained elusive. His term began with a ceasefire that lasted two months. That ceasefire ended when Israeli strikes killed 400 Palestinians on March 18.
In recent weeks, images of starving Palestinians in Gaza, including children, have shocked the world and fuelled criticism of Israel.
Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and set off a starvation crisis. Multiple rights experts and scholars assess the assault amounts to genocide.
Israel calls its actions self-defence after the October 2023 Hamas attack in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage. Israel has also bombed Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen in the course of its war in Gaza.
