Boys salvaging a destroyed building in the Gaza Strip | Photo via Wikimedia Commons
On Sept. 9, Israeli forces launched an airstrike at a residential building housing Hamas political leaders and ceasefire negotiators in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Six members of the Palestinian militant group were killed, but the leaders and negotiators survived. The group’s negotiating team was discussing a new truce deal proposed recently by United States President Donald Trump when the attack happened. Qatar, a significant US ally and host to a vast American military base, has long positioned itself as an honest broker in negotiating for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani denounced the attack as a violation of its sovereignty and an act of Israeli “state terrorism.”
“Qatar reserves the right to respond to this blatant attack and will take all necessary measures to respond,” he said.
The Gulf state has channeled millions of dollars to Hamas in Gaza in previous years with the knowledge and clearance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was criticized by the Israeli military, warning that Hamas was using it to train and rearm its fighters.
Netanyahu said he had allowed this money transfer to prevent Gaza from falling into economic ruin and chaos. He explained that this was part of a “containment and control” policy to bribe Hamas leaders into not harassing Israeli settlers and armed soldiers, and to let the group keep control of Gaza as it weakened the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The policy was one of divide and conquer. With Palestinians divided, the long-proposed two-state solution — in which Israel and Palestine would both be recognized as independent countries — would never be realized. That containment earned Netanyahu positive political points.
Israeli intelligence did not anticipate Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which left more than 1,200 Israelis — including 379 Israeli troops — dead, resulted in 251 others being taken hostage, and triggered the war in Gaza. Twenty of these captives are believed to be still alive there. Netanyahu — who is facing corruption charges and plans to keep himself in power as long as possible — must still be held accountable.
Green light
On the claims that Trump gave Israel the green light to strike Hamas leaders in Doha, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft said: “What is the value of an American security umbrella [for Qatar] and hosting a US base on your soil if the United States itself conspires to attack you?”
It is inconceivable that Israel would attack Qatar without Trump’s clearance, since the US military base in that country would have to be informed in advance of such an attack. But Trump has denied giving permission and has distanced himself from the strike.
Matt Duss, a foreign policy adviser to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, said: “This is an attack in the capital of a major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) US ally in the midst of US-supported negotiations — against officials who were originally hosted there at the United States’ request.”
“As many as 4,400 scientists from 87 countries have called for an immediate end to the “man-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.” The signatories of the declaration dated Aug. 21, 2025, are 14 Nobel Prize winners. They declared that “nothing in this historical record” can “justify” the devastation inflicted on Gaza’s civilian population.”
“It’s an attack on diplomacy itself, making clear that Netanyahu intends to see Israel’s accelerating campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza through to the end. If it was conducted with the approval of the US, it’s the latest nail in the coffin of Trump’s claim to be a ‘peacemaker,’” he added.
It would appear that Trump’s invitation to Hamas leaders to meet and discuss his latest ceasefire proposal was allegedly a setup to gather them all together, so Israel could kill them at once. But to their shame and embarrassment, the airstrike failed to eliminate the entire leadership.
Trump’s greatest desire is to win the Nobel Peace Prize, as he apparently envies former US president Barack Obama, who was awarded the honor in 2009 because of his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” However, Trump is enabling Israel to wage a genocidal war against Gazans, and he has failed to stop the war in Ukraine.
‘Humanitarian catastrophe’
An Associated Press report quotes Gaza’s Health Ministry as saying, “64,231 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war,” adding that “women and children make up around half the dead.” As of Sept. 11, 2025, over 163,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded in bombings of tent cities.
As many as 4,400 scientists from 87 countries have called for an immediate end to the “man-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.” The signatories of the declaration dated Aug. 21, 2025, are 14 Nobel Prize winners. They declared that “nothing in this historical record” can “justify” the devastation inflicted on Gaza’s civilian population. The group also included 85 Israeli scientists, among them David Harel, president of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Italy contributed the highest number of signatories with 921, followed by Spain (449), the US (429), France (326), India (310), Brazil (267), the United Kingdom (247), Switzerland (138), Japan (112), and the Netherlands (104).
The scientists denounced the “artificial shortage of food… leading to a famine-like situation,” the “enforced denial of medical facilities,” the “absence of even a modicum of education for children,” and the “systematic annihilation of civil infrastructure (including universities).” They also underscored the pervasive “disregard for the rights, well-being and life of the civilian population of Gaza,” and the killing of “tens of thousands of innocent lives” in Gaza, including nearly 1,000 months-old infants.
The killings go on with Israeli forces now assaulting Gaza City, destroying the high-rise buildings there, one by one. About 20 Palestinians, including teenagers, are shot daily while collecting food at distribution centers controlled by Israel with private security guards recruited by the heavily armed, notorious US bikers’ clubs known as the Infidels MC. They were recruited by the US private security contractor UG Solutions, which is working for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. They describe themselves as “modern crusaders” and having a strong anti-Muslim ideology.
