Arab, Muslim leaders to meet in Qatar to denounce Israeli attack

DOHA (AFP): Qatar said Saturday it will host a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders to denounce Israel’s attack on Hamas officials in Doha and to show solidarity with the Gulf state.

Monday’s meeting would consider “a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar” to be drafted Sunday at a ministerial meeting, said foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

The summit reflected “broad Arab and Islamic solidarity with the State of Qatar in the face of Israel’s cowardly aggression… and the categorical rejection of Israel’s state terrorism”, he said, quoted by the official QNA news agency.

Among the leaders attending will be Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be in Doha, but his presence at the meeting is yet to be confirmed.

Israel targeted Hamas leaders Tuesday in strikes on the Qatari capital, killing five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer.

The attack drew widespread international condemnation, including from Gulf monarchies allied with the United States, Israel’s main backer.

Qatar, which hosts the largest US base in the region, plays a mediation role in the Gaza war alongside the United States and Egypt.

Analysts say the summit is meant to send Israel a clear signal.

The Israeli strikes were “seen across the Gulf as an unprecedented violation of sovereignty and an attack on diplomacy itself”, Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said, adding the summit signalled that “such aggression can’t be normalised”.

“The goal is to draw clear red lines and end the sense in Israel that it can act with impunity,” he said. “Expect a sharper stance on Palestine and a harder edge on Israeli actions.”