Netanyahu on Wednesday accused Qatar of aiding and abetting “terrorists,” saying, “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice — because if you don’t, we will.”
In an interview on the same day, Al-Thani responded to the remarks, saying, “We don’t accept such a threat coming from someone like Netanyahu… he needs to be brought to justice, he is the one wanted by the ICC.”
He insisted that the presence of Palestinian leaders in Doha to negotiate a deal “was very well known for the Israelis and for the Americans,” and that the Israelis and Americans have been using Qatar as a communication channel for Gaza for years.
According to Al-Thani, the attack on Qatar’s sovereignty crosses “a very minimum level of manners and ethics,” and the US informed his country about the attack “too late.”
The Qatari official also said that the regime has “killed any hope” for the remaining captives in Gaza. “I was meeting one of the hostages’ families the morning of the attack,” he said. “They are counting on this [ceasefire] mediation. They have no other hope for that.”
Additionally, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a condemnation of the Israeli prime minister’s comments, calling them a “shameful attempt … to justify the cowardly attack that targeted Qatari territory, as well as the explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty.”
“Netanyahu is fully aware that the hosting of the Hamas office took place within the framework of Qatar’s mediation efforts requested by the United States and Israel,” the statement read.
Qatar has been a key regional mediator in negotiations between the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israel.
Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened to try to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar again if Doha "does not expel" the group’s officials.
Hamas confirmed that its senior negotiators survived the attack, but five members of the group were killed, including Jihad Labad, director of the office of senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, Hammam al-Hayya, son of Khalil al-Hayya, Abdullah Abdul Wahid, Moumen Hassouna, and Ahmed al-Mamlouk — all described as companions of the delegation.
Qatari security officer Badr Saad Muhammad Al-Humaidi was also among the martyrs of Israeli attacks on Monday.
In just three days, Israel has launched attacks in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, and Qatar, while continuing daily raids in the occupied West Bank.
Baffled by the attacks on Doha, regional leaders are now rallying around Qatar.
“There is a collective response that should happen from the region,” United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said.
He confirmed that an Arab-Islamic summit will be held in Doha in the coming days to decide on a course of action.
MNA