UN overwhelmingly passes non-binding resolution to establish Palestinian state sans Hamas White House confirms Trump and Witkoff will dine tonight with Qatari PM.
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations Security Council on condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel’s ally the United States.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance U.S. and Israeli interests.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by the UK and France. Israel defended its decision to mount the attack.
Qatar has played a key role in brokering diplomatic efforts to end the Israel-Gaza war, serving as a mediator of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel. It has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012 and is a close US ally, hosting a large American airbase in the desert south-west of Doha. The emergency meeting was requested by Qatar, Algeria, Pakistan and Somalia. Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani travelled to New York to attend.
“This attack puts the international community before a test,” al-Thani told the council. “Israel, led by blusterous extremists, has gone beyond any borders, any limitations when it comes to behaviour. We are unable to predict what Israel will do. How can we host Israeli representatives when they have committed this attack?”
“This strike sends a message that should echo across this chamber. There is no sanctuary for terrorists, not in Gaza, not in Tehran, not in Doha. There is no immunity for terrorists,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told a Security Council meeting on the attack. “We will act against the leaders of terror wherever they are hiding.”
The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. U.S. backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
The widely condemned Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.
Qatar accuses Israel of undermining talks
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani accused Israel of trying to derail efforts to end the war in Gaza by attacking Hamas leaders in Doha, but pledged to continue its mediation efforts.
“Attacking our territories while we were busy with negotiations has uncovered the intention of Israel. It is trying to undermine any prospect of peace. It is trying to perpetuate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he told the council. “It also shows that extremists that rule Israel today do not care about the hostages. This is not a priority.”
Pakistan also questioned whether the release of hostages held by Hamas was a priority for Israel. “It is evident that Israel, the occupying power, is bent on doing everything to undermine and blow up every possibility of peace,” Pakistan’s U.N. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the council.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea said: “It is inappropriate for any member to use this to question Israel’s commitment to bringing their hostages home.”
Meanwhile, Israel rejected on Friday the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voting to endorse a declaration outlining steps towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians without Hamas.
“Once again, it has been proven how much the General Assembly is a political circus detached from reality: in the dozens of clauses of the declaration endorsed by this resolution, there is not a single mention that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein says in a post on X.
The resolution does, however, condemn Hamas’s October 7 attack, call on the group to release the hostages and outline steps for its removal from power in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump will meet Qatar’s prime minister on Friday after an Israeli strike on Hamas in the Gulf state, a key US partner, the White House says.
Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff “will be having dinner” with Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani, it says in a brief statement.
Pakistan hit back after Israel defended its Doha strikes, rejecting the sharp condemnation on Thursday by most members of the UN Security Council of its aggression against Qatar while asserting that the US action against Osama bin Laden had drawn no criticism.
“It is unacceptable, indeed, ludicrous, for an aggressor, an occupier, a serial violator of UN Charter and international law – that is Israel – to abuse this chamber and disrespect the sanctity of this Council,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said in his right of reply.
“By pointing fingers on others, baseless assertions, primarily aimed at masking its own illegal actions and violations of international law”, he told the 15-member Council. The exchange took in the Security Council’s debate on the situation in the Middle East, convened by Pakistan, Algeria and Somalia, under South Korean presidency.
In his defence of its “illegal and unprovoked” Qatar attack, Israeli Ambassador Danny Dannon remained defiant, saying, there was no sanctuary for terrorists, not in Gaza, not in Tehran, not in Doha. “There is no immunity for terrorists. History will not be kind to accomplices. Either Qatar condemns Hamas, expels Hamas and brings Hamas to justice, or Israel will,” he warned.
In a tough rebuttal, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said, “It (Israel) is an occupier that does not listen to anyone; that does not pay heed to any advice, even from its friends, if there are any left; that refutes, and not just refutes, it threatens members of the international community, international media, international human rights and humanitarian organizations, doesn’t listen to the ICJ or the ICC, and threatens the UN and its senior officials; and it does that with impunity.
“Shielded by its apologists, who time and again acquiesce in its illegal actions and defiance of the international community. And like all occupiers, despite being the aggressor, it feigns and plays the victim, but today, it is totally exposed.”
About the unrelated bin Laden incident and his misleading remarks regarding Pakistan, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said he did so in an effort to justify its own illegal actions and violations of international law. In fact, he rejected the false analogy.
“Pakistan’s position on that incident has been clearly stated and is publicly available,” the Pakistani envoy said, adding, “The international community is well aware of Pakistan’s frontline role and sacrifices in the international community’s fight against terrorism.
“The entire world, including our partners, acknowledges that Al Qaeda was largely decimated due to Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts. And we remained committed in this global, collective endeavor.
“That is, in fact, the perpetrator of the worst kind of state terrorism that we are witnessing in Gaza, and in fact, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“For whatever way it interprets these statements in this Council, the occupying power must go back and read carefully the statement issued by the Security Council today.”
Earlier in his main statement, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that striking the territory of a principal mediator for a ceasefire and hostage deal, as well as those involved in negotiations, is a deliberate attempt to sabotage diplomacy, derail peace efforts and prolong civilian suffering.
“It is evident that Israel, the occupying Power, is determined to undermine and destroy every possibility of peace,” he said, questioning whether the return of hostages is truly a priority,” he said.
“Sadly, Israel has been emboldened by the Council’s weak response and inaction.”
Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani condemned Israel’s 9 September strike on a residential compound allocated for negotiating teams, which housed Hamas representatives and their families. The attack terrorized those who lived in the residential area, he said, calling it “a violation of the UN Member State’s sovereignty”.
“Israel – led by bloodthirsty extremists – has gone beyond any borders, any limitation when it comes to behaviour among States and individuals,” the Qatari premier stressed, asking: “Have you heard of any State that is attacking the mediator this way? A State that is attacking the negotiating teams that are hosted by Qatar?”
He criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “shameful justification”, contrasting it with the Taliban’s political bureau in Doha, which enabled Washington, D.C. – Taliban talks that ended the war in Afghanistan.
“The United States has never targeted the negotiators,” he said. He warned that Israel is destabilizing the region and undermining any prospect for peace. “We call for peace, not war, and we will not be deterred by those who call for war and destruction,” he concluded.
