Netanyahu accused Qatar of supporting and betting “terrorists” on Wednesday, saying, “I will either expel them or you will put them on trial in Qatar and all the countries that have terrorists, because if you don’t, we will.”
In an interview on the same day, Al Thani responded to his remarks, saying, “I don’t accept the threats that come from people like Netanyahu… he needs to be brought to justice and he is the person ICC wants.”
He argued that the existence of Doha’s Palestinian leaders to negotiate deals was “very famous to Israelis and Americans,” and that Israelis and Americans have long used Qatar as Gaza’s communication channel.
According to Al-Thani, the attack on Qatar’s sovereignty exceeded “a very low level of manners and ethics” and the US informed his country of the “too late” attack.
Qatar officials also said the regime “killed hope” for the rest of Gaza prisoners. “I was meeting one of the hostage family on the morning of the attack,” he said. “They rely on this (ceasefire) mediation. They have no other hopes for that.”
Furthermore, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli Prime Minister’s comments, calling it an explicit threat of future violations of national sovereignty, as well as “a shameful attempt to justify the ward sick attack targeting Qatar’s territory.”
“Netanyahu is fully aware that the hosting of the Hamas office was carried out within the framework of Qatar’s mediation efforts requested by the US and Israel,” the statement read.
Qatar was a key regional mediator in negotiations between the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israel.
Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened to try and kill Qatar’s Hamas leader again if Doha “doesn’t expel” group officials.
Hamas confirmed that senior negotiators survived the attack, but confirmed that five members of the group have been killed, including director of Hamas’ official office of Halil Al Haya, son of Khalil Al Haya, Hamam Al Haya, Abdullah Abdul Wahid, son of Abumen Al Mamul, Hamam Al Haya and director of Hamam Al Haya’s office.
Qatari security guard Badr Saad Muhammad al-Humadi was also one of the martyrs in the Israeli attacks on Monday.
In just three days, Israel has launched attacks in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and Qatar, continuing daily raids on the occupied West Bank.
Regional leaders who are bewildered by the attacks on Doha are now gathering around Qatar.
“There’s a collective response that should be coming from this region,” said UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
He confirmed that the Arab-Islamic summit will be held in Doha in the coming days and will determine a series of actions.
rhm/