ALBAWABA - An emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha is expected to show strong support for Qatar after an Israeli airstrike last week hit senior Hamas officials on its land.
Before the summit, a draft resolution called the Israeli attack a "destabilizing escalation" and said that any Israeli attempts to "impose a new reality in the region" were not acceptable. The draft doesn't say what kinds of diplomatic or economic punishments will be used, but it could be changed before the leaders meet.
Airstrike Makes Conflict Worse
The Israeli attack on September 9 killed five Hamas members, but it did not kill the leaders it was supposed to. The action was an expansion of Israel's military operations deeper into the Gulf, targeting a country that has long been Hamas's political base.
The attack made Gulf states that are friendly to the US come together to protect Qatar. This made Israel's relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tense. The UAE normalized ties with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.
Qatar "Not Alone"
On Sunday, foreign ministers from the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) started talking. This led up to the leaders' summit on Monday.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, stressed how important the meeting was as a symbol:
"The fact that the summit is happening is a message in itself: Qatar is not alone, and Arab and Islamic countries are with it."
Netanyahu's Pressure and U.S. Worries
Even though many people were against it, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept putting pressure on Doha, saying it had to either kick out Hamas officials or "bring them to justice, because if you don't, we will."
Qatar, which played a key role in the ceasefire and hostage negotiations, said Israel was getting in the way of peace talks and called Netanyahu's stance "state terrorism." A member of Qatar's internal security forces was one of the people who died in the attack.
President Donald Trump of the United States also didn't like the operation, saying it didn't help either the United States or Israel. He called Qatar a close ally that works hard for peace and promised Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that these things would not happen again in Qatar.
Fallout in the region
On Friday, the UAE called in Israel's deputy ambassador to complain about both the strike and Netanyahu's "aggressive" words. Abu Dhabi said that Qatar's stability is very important for the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) security.
The strike happened while the war in Gaza was still going on, and it is now almost two years old. Gaza health officials say that since Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people in Israel and taking 251 hostages, more than 64,000 Palestinians have died. People still think that Hamas has 48 hostages.
Along with the U.S., Qatar has been a key player in efforts to mediate a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal.
