New York: US President Donald Trump held dinner with Qatari Prime Minister in New York on Friday, a few days after the United States Ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel tried to kill Hamas’ political leaders with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing the efforts sustained by the United States to negotiate a truce in Gaza and ended the conflict of almost two years. The attack was largely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act which could degenerate tensions in a region already at the limit.
Trump expressed his contradiction as for the strike during a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani were joined by a Trump advisor, an American special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Large dinner with Potus. I just finished,” said the deputy chief of Qatar, Hamah al-Muftah, on X.
The White House confirmed that the dinner had taken place but offered no detail.
The session followed a one-hour meeting that Al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with vice-president JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
An informed source of the meeting said that he had discussed the future of Qatar as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation following Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was not satisfied with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that has not advanced American or Israeli interests.
Washington has Qatar as a strong gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator of longtime negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday to have tried to sabotage chances of peace, but said that Qatar would not be dissuaded from its role as mediator.
The Israeli aggression against Gaza since October 2023 has killed more than 64,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, while moving internally the entire population of Gaza and triggering a famine crisis. Several experts in rights and academics say that the military assault of Israel against Gaza is equivalent to a genocide.
Israel rejected this determination. He launched his offensive in Gaza after an attack by fighters led by Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli accounts. Israel also bombed Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen during the Gaza conflict.
