Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani received the apology on Monday in a joint call from United States President Donald Trump and Netanyahu during their meeting at the White House.
“As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,” a White House statement said.
“He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”
At least five lower-ranking Hamas members and a Qatari security official were killed in the September 9 attack, which targeted senior Hamas leaders involved in negotiations on a US-backed ceasefire proposal. Hamas’s top leaders survived the assassination attempt.
It was the first Israeli attack on Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire efforts and host of the US military’s largest base in the Middle East, Al Udeid.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the call “as part of US efforts to address the repercussions of the Israeli aggression that targeted a residential neighbourhood in Doha city, which included housing for the Hamas negotiating delegation, resulting in a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar”.
“At the beginning of the call, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his gratitude to the US President for his efforts to achieve peace in the region, including guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression against the State of Qatar and the US commitment to its defense partnership with Qatar,” the ministry announced.
“For his part, the Israeli Prime Minister apologised during the call for the attack and the violation of Qatari sovereignty, which resulted in the martyrdom of Qatari citizen Badr Al-Dosari, pledging not to repeat any targeting of Qatari territory in the future,” it added.
Netanyahu’s official X account quoted him as telling the Qatari prime minister: “Mr Prime Minister, I want you to know that Israel regrets that one of your citizens was killed in our strike. I want to assure you that Israel was targeting Hamas, not Qataris.”
“I also want to assure you that Israel has no plan to violate your sovereignty again in the future, and I have made that commitment to the president.”
The prime minister then went on to claim: “Israel has grievances against Qatar, from support for the Muslim Brotherhood to how Israel is portrayed on Al Jazeera to support for anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses.”
After Netanyahu’s “deep regret” over attacking Qatar, the White House announced that Qatar’s prime minister “welcomed these assurances, emphasising Qatar’s readiness to continue contributing meaningfully to regional security and stability. Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed commitment to the same.”
