ALBAWABA – According to Axios on Saturday, Qatar will only return to mediation efforts in the Gaza war if Israel formally apologizes for a recent attack in Doha.
Washington is worried that the suspension of Qatari involvement will make it much harder to get hostages released and reach a ceasefire.
During talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Doha earlier this week, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani personally made the request for an apology, according to the report. Rubio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer also talked about the issue.
Witkoff is going to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in New York later on Saturday to talk about how to calm things down between Israel and Qatar and get the stalled talks about Gaza going again.
Axios was told by sources that Doha might accept an apology that focused on the death of a Qatari security officer during the attack, along with promises that Israel would not violate Qatari sovereignty again. Israel has made similar apologies before, like when Netanyahu apologized to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2013 for the deaths of Turkish activists in the Gaza flotilla raid.
Axios also said that the demand comes at a time when Netanyahu is accusing Qatar of hiding "terrorists" and warning of possible future attacks. Analysts said that Netanyahu's apology could hurt him politically and put a strain on his far-right coalition.
An Israeli official said that Israel didn't think about how bad things would get after what happened in Doha. They said that Netanyahu now knows he "miscalculated."
