Qatar will host a summit of Arab and Islamic countries on Monday to express its rejection of the Israeli attack targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital and its solidarity with Doha, a Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Saturday.
Spokesman Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari said that this emergency summit"will discuss a draft statement regarding the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar, submitted by the preparatory meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, which will be held on Sunday."
Al-Ansari stressed, in a statement to the Qatar News Agency (QNA), that the convening of the summit “reflects the broad Arab and Islamic solidarity with the State of Qatar in confronting the cowardly Israeli aggression that targeted the residential headquarters of a number of Hamas leaders, and the categorical rejection of these countries of the state terrorism practiced by Israel.”
Iran confirmed the participation of its President Masoud Pezeshkian in the summit, while Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani will participate. The Turkish presidency said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Doha on Monday, without further details.
Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital on Tuesday killed five Hamas members and a member of the Qatari security forces.
The attack was widely condemned internationally, particularly by the wealthy Gulf states, allies of the United States and Israel's main backer.
Qatar hosts the largest US base in the region and is mediating the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza alongside the United States and Egypt.
Andreas Krieg of King's College London said that the Israeli raids"are seen throughout the Gulf as an unprecedented violation of sovereignty and an assault on diplomacy itself. By hosting this summit, Doha is signaling that such aggression cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed."
He added,"The goal is to draw clear red lines and end the impression that Israel can act with impunity," noting that he expects the summit to adopt "a more assertive stance toward Palestine and a more stringent stance toward Israel's practices."
On Friday, the United Arab Emirates announced that it had summoned the Israeli deputy ambassador to Abu Dhabi to lodge a formal protest.
