President Trump is expected to meet with the Qatari prime minister on Friday, days before an emergency summit of Arab states in response to Israel’s deadly strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Doha this week.
The meeting between Mr. Trump and the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, is scheduled to take place in New York, according to two officials familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced plans. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, is also scheduled to attend the talks, the officials said.
The Israeli attack on a residential compound in Doha, the capital of Qatar, has unsettled Persian Gulf states that have long seen Washington as their main security guarantor. Qatar, a key American ally that hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East, was also acting as a mediator in indirect cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas. It was hosting the political leadership of the Palestinian armed group at the behest of the United States.
Sheikh Mohammed has called the Israeli strikes in Doha an act of “state terror,” and will hold an emergency summit of Arab leaders in the Qatari capital on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has framed them as retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which hundreds of Israelis were killed and abducted.
Sheikh Mohammed is expected to meet with Mr. Trump after holding discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday morning that are likely to focus on the strikes and could include talks about a defense deal between the countries. Mr. Rubio will travel to Israel on Saturday, according to the State Department.
In May, Mr. Trump signed a “letter of intent” with Qatar about a defense deal, an arrangement that could see the emirate spend billions of dollars on more American military equipment, according to the White House. After Israel launched the attack in Doha, Mr. Trump said on social media that he wanted Mr. Rubio to finalize an agreement.
The Hamas leaders targeted by the Israeli attack were meeting to discuss a new cease-fire proposal backed by the Trump administration at the time of the strike, Qatari and Hamas officials have said.
Hamas said that no senior leaders had been killed in the attack. It said that the son of Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s chief negotiator who helped plan the 2023 attack, had been killed, along with four other people associated with the group. A member of Qatar’s security forces was also killed, according to Qatari officials.
Israeli officials have not publicly commented on whether any of its Hamas targets had been killed or injured.
The U.S.-Qatar talks come a day after Sheikh Mohammed addressed an emergency meeting at the U.N. Security Council in New York about the Israeli strike in Doha. Council members unanimously condemned the attack in a statement that was endorsed by the United States, which typically refrains from criticizing Israel at the United Nations.
Sheikh Mohammed told the meeting that Israel had crossed a line and it had now “become impossible to predict” what the country might do next.
Mr. Trump has distanced himself from the Israeli strike, saying that the decision to bomb a residence in Qatar was made by Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Trump said that he was “very unhappy” about the incident and that the strikes did “not advance Israel or America’s goals.”
The attack has also spurred anger among officials across the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had summoned one of the top Israeli diplomats in Abu Dhabi to denounce the attack.
Earlier this week, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, visited Doha on a state visit along with his powerful national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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