Israel “killed any hope” of securing a cease-fire deal to free the remaining hostages being held in Gaza after it attacked Hamas’ negotiating team in Doha, Qatar’s prime minister said on Thursday.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of torpedoing months of work Doha has spent mediating the conflict in Gaza, warning that Tuesday’s attack against Hamas’ leadership threatens the lives of the remaining 20 living hostages.
“I was meeting one of the hostages’ families the morning of the attack,” al Thani told CNN in an interview late Wednesday. “They are counting on this [ceasefire] mediation. They have no other hope for that.”
“I think that what Netanyahu has done, he just killed any hope for those hostages,” he added.
Qatar, which serves as a key US ally in the Middle East, has led the cease-fire talks with Hamas, often working with Egypt to put together proposals to end the war in Gaza and bring the hostages home.
Qatari officials said Al Thani had met with the Hamas delegation team just a day before the attack in Doha to discuss the latest proposal from President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Israel, however, has long maintained that Qatar cannot serve as mediators to the conflict given that Hamas’ leadership is based inside the country, accusing Doha of keeping the terror group safe and financing their activities.
While Trump has called Netanyahu and Al Thani to de-escalate the conflict, promising that such an attack will never happen again, the Israeli prime minister doubled down on his threats to Qatar on Thursday.
“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.”
Al Thani, who has vowed to retaliate over the attack in Qatar’s capital, was in New York attending a UN Security Council meeting over the Israeli strike.
The Qatari prime minister is also set to lead an Arab-Islamic summit next week in Doha to discuss the attack.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the remaining captives in Gaza and their relatives, said the attack on Qatar has left them with “deep concern and heavy anxiety.”
“A grave fear now hangs over the price that the hostages may pay,” the group said in a statement.
With Post wires