Leaders of Arab and Islamic states convened in Qatar for an emergency summit on Monday, discussing how to respond to an Israeli airstrike that targeted senior Hamas officials in Qatar’s capital last week.
The participants are contemplating whether to move beyond rhetoric and take tangible action in response to the attack, which sparked a wave of international condemnation, particularly from neighboring Gulf monarchies.
Analysts say that a military response is highly unlikely because further escalation could harm the domestic agendas of the Gulf’s rulers, and because they remain dependent on military support from Israel’s closest ally, the United States. But other options — like downgrading diplomatic and trade ties with Israel — could be on the table.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said that Israel’s diplomatic ties to Arab nations are now in jeopardy, along with its chances of formal recognition by other Arab states.
“What is happening now,” Mr. el-Sisi said “places obstacles before any new peace agreements and even strains the existing peace accords with countries in the region.”
Though Israel has often attacked its enemies on foreign soil, the bombing in Qatar was a striking departure; the two countries have long had cordial relations, though not formal diplomatic ties. An American ally, Qatar hosts a large U.S. military base, and it has allowed the political leaders of the militant group Hamas to live and operate there for many years, acting as an intermediary between Hamas and other countries.
Since the war in Gaza began almost two years ago, those relationships have positioned Qatar as a key mediator in cease-fire talks involving Israel and Hamas. That vital role, which produced two temporary truces but failed to secure a permanent resolution, has been strained as much of the world has condemned the Israeli war effort as far more devastating than was justified. And now it hangs in the balance.
“We shouldn’t be content with merely holding an emergency summit, but that we take concrete steps to address the state of madness of power, arrogance and bloodthirsty obsession that has befallen the government of Israel,” said Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who accused Israel of “sabotaging” the cease-fire and hostage release negotiations with Hamas in Doha.
“For our part, we are determined to do everything necessary and permissible to us by international law, to preserve our sovereignty and confront this Israeli aggression,” Sheikh Tamim said, without explicitly saying whether Qatar was backing out of its mediation role.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services, expressed similar sentiments in an opinion column published on Sunday in The National, an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper. He said he wished that the leaders at the summit would “mention specific actions that punish Israel for its heinous and genocidal actions in Gaza and also for its deliberately treacherous attack on Qatar.”
Among those at the summit on Monday were Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran — a rare show of unity for two countries that have often been at odds but that are finding common cause in opposing Israel’s actions. Israel conducted a 12-day bombing campaign in June against Iran — which the United States joined — and Iran retaliated with missiles fired at Israel and a U.S. base in Qatar.
The Israeli attack last Tuesday on a residential compound in Doha reflected the more aggressive stance it has taken against its enemies beyond its borders. In addition to the devastating war in Gaza, and the conflict with Iran, Israel invaded Lebanon last year to pursue its fight with Hezbollah, and it has carried out repeated strikes in Yemen and Syria.
The Doha attack killed several people affiliated with Hamas as well as a member of Qatar’s internal security forces. Hamas said it failed to kill any of the officials that Israel had targeted. Israel has not released its own assessment of whether the strike had produced its intended consequences.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has defended the strike as part of a larger battle to retaliate against Hamas for leading the October 2023 attack on his country that set off the war in Gaza.
Speaking at a joint news conference with the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in Jerusalem on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu said that the strike’s main impact was the signal it sent.
“We sent a message to the terrorists: You can run but you can’t hide — and we will get you,” he said.
The Doha summit coincides with the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords — a set of U.S.-brokered agreements that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states. For decades, the only Arab countries that formally recognized Israel had been Egypt and Jordan.
Hamas, in a statement on the eve of the summit, called for the Gulf leaders to take “decisive positions” and use every point of leverage to get Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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