President Donald Trump made a sharp, stern demand during a tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following an unexpected Israeli strike on Hamas targets in Doha, Qatar early Tuesday.
During the call, Trump warned that targeting Qatar, a key U.S. partner and mediator in the Gaza War and hostage negotiations, was “not wise” and demanded that Netanyahu commit to not repeat such attacks in the future.
The U.S. was reportedly caught off guard — learning about the strike from its military rather than from Israel. Trump and his aides saw the attack as a serious breach of protocol, prompting deep concerns that it could derail ceasefire efforts and the release of surviving hostages.
Netanyahu defended his decision, arguing he had a narrow window of opportunity to strike and that the targets were legitimate.
Later that day, the two leaders spoke again. This second call took on a more measured tone, during which Trump inquired about the strike’s effectiveness. Hamas later claimed its senior negotiating team survived survived, while lower-ranking members were killed.
At least six people were killed in the strike, five of them Hamas members. Among the dead is reportedly the son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya.
Israel openly claimed responsibility for launching the strike.
Officials described the strike as an independent operation, retaliatory in nature and part of an ongoing campaign against Hamas following prior attacks, with the possible aim of disrupting ongoing operations.
Yet even as the victims of the attack were laid to rest at Doha’s Grand Mosque on Thursday, Netanyahu renewed threats to strike the country — a U.S. ally — if it refused to expel Hamas’ political representatives.
CBS News has more:
Qatar’s government has condemned Israel’s Tuesday strikes, saying the “criminal attack constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of the State of Qatar and its people.”
The U.S. has relied on Qatar to act as a go-between with Hamas, with which it has long had ties. Working through Hamas’ political office in Doha, both the Trump administration and the Biden administration before that have pushed hard, along with Egypt, to broker a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Senior Israeli officials have also traveled to Qatar many times to take part in these negotiations since the war began.
Qatar also hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, the Al-Udeid Air Base, where thousands of American military personnel are stationed.
President Trump, in a post on his Truth Social network on Tuesday, said the White House had been “notified by the United States Military that Israel was attacking Hamas which, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha.”
Israel alerted the U.S. military only moments before the strike, according to reports.
Tuesday’s operation was the first documented Israeli strike on Qatari soil, signaling a significant escalation that could jeopardize Qatar’s role as a mediator in the protracted conflict with Hamas.
Normally inclined to give Netanyahu’s governing coalition the benefit of the doubt, Trump said he was “very unhappy about every aspect” of the strike, stressing that it was “not a decision made by me.”
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