By Andrew Mills, Jana Choukeir and Simon Lewis
DOHA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he didn’t rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are” as the heads of Arab and Islamic states held a summit to show support for Qatar after Israel’s attack on the Gulf state last week.
The September 9 strike targeting leaders of the Palestinian militant group in Doha marked a significant escalation of Israeli military action in a region shaken by conflict since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks that ignited the Gaza war.
The emergency Arab-Islamic summit hosted by Doha is expected to warn that the Israeli attack and other “hostile acts” by Israel threaten coexistence and efforts to normalise ties in the region, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters.
Addressing the summit, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said the Israeli attack was “cowardly and treacherous”, saying Hamas leaders had been studying a U.S. ceasefire proposal presented to them by Qatar and Egypt when it took place.
Hamas says the Israeli attack killed five of its members but not its leadership. A member of Qatar’s internal security forces was also killed.
Targeting close U.S. ally Qatar, the Israeli strike has prompted U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states to close ranks, notably adding to strains in ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which were normalised in 2020.
Speaking alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel was still getting final reports on the results of the strike.
Rubio will travel to Qatar after his visit to Israel, a senior U.S. State Department official said.
Rubio called on Qatar to continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Gaza conflict, saying it could help reach the goals of releasing all 48 hostages still held in Gaza, disarming Hamas and building a better future for Gazans.
“And so we’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated displeasure at the attack and said on Sunday Israel should be careful.
“My message is that they have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States,” he said.
ISRAELI ATTACK THREATENS ‘COEXISTENCE’
An excerpt of the draft resolution seen by Reuters said “the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar and the continuation of Israel’s hostile acts including genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation, siege, and colonizing activities and expansion policies threatens prospects of peace and coexistence in the region.”
These actions threaten “everything that has been achieved on the path of normalizing ties with Israel including current agreements and future ones”, according to the draft, which was drawn up by foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit.
Israel has been widely accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including by the world’s biggest group of genocide scholars, during its nearly two-year campaign in the Palestinian enclave that has killed more than 64,000 people, according to local authorities.
Israel rejects the accusation, citing its right to self-defence following the October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Qatar has acted as a key mediator in the Gaza conflict and has accused Israel of sabotaging chances for peace and Netanyahu of practicing “state terrorism”.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Sunday that Israel’s actions would not stop Doha’s mediation efforts with Egypt and the United States.
ISRAEL DESTROYS 16-FLOOR BUILDING IN GAZA
While diplomacy was unfolding in Jerusalem and Doha, Israeli forces were continuing their assault on Gaza City, where they killed at least 16 Palestinians in strikes on two homes and on a tent housing a displaced family, local health authorities said.
The army also hit and destroyed a 16-floor building in the west of the city, believed to be the tallest in the Gaza Strip, about an hour after warning displaced families sheltering inside and nearby to leave. It said the building was being used to hide “terrorist infrastructure.”
Rubio gave strong backing to Israel, which has grown increasingly isolated on the world stage because of widespread indignation at the enormous death toll in Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian and hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
(Additional reporting by Nayera Abdallah in Dubai and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry)
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