Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said Doha hopes that there will be a “collective response” to Israel’s strike on Hamas officials in the Qatari capital.
“There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” Al-Thani said.
He stated that an Arab-Islamic summit will be held in Doha in the coming days, where the participants will decide on a course of action.
However, Al-Thani said that Qatar will not ask other regional partners to respond in a particular way.
“There is a collective response that should happen from the region,” Al-Thani said, “We are hoping for something meaningful that deters Israel from continuing this bullying.”
He also told CNN in an interview aired late Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” of releasing hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
“I was meeting one of the (Israeli) hostage’s families the morning of the attack,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “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."
Qatar and Egypt have been key mediators to try and reach a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
Sheikh Mohammed was expected to attend a UN Security Council meeting later Thursday, part of a diplomatic push by Qatar after the strike.
The attack in Doha was nothing less than “state terror,” Al-Thani told CNN.
