Qatar's prime minister excoriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an exclusive interview with CNN on Wednesday, calling Israel's attempted assassination of Hamas leaders in Doha "barbaric." "We were thinking that we are dealing with civilized people," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani told CNN's Becky Anderson. "That's the way we are dealing with others. And the action that (Netanyahu) took – I cannot describe it, but it's a barbaric action." Al-Thani added that he believes Israel's strike on Doha on Tuesday "killed any hope" for the hostages remaining in Gaza. "I was meeting one of the hostage's families the morning of the attack," Al-Thani said. "They are counting on this (ceasefire) mediation, they have no other hope for that." "I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages," the prime minister said. The attack in Doha was nothing less than "state terror," Al-Thani told CNN. The prime minister had used the same term on Tuesday when he took the podium at a news conference and laid into Israel for its actions. During that news conference, Al-Thani was visibly angry. He expressed the same outrage Wednesday, some thirty-six hours after the strike. "I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action. ... This is state terror," Al-Thani told CNN. "We are betrayed." Al-Thani notably did not reveal the fate of Hamas' chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya, following Israel's attack targeting the group's leadership in Doha on Tuesday. When asked by CNN on the whereabouts of the chief negotiator, Al-Thani said that "until now ... there is no official declaration." Hamas had initially said five of its members were killed in the strike, but it failed to assassinate the negotiating delegation. Al-Thani said a 22-year-old Qatari security officer was killed in the attack. "We are trying to identify if there is any other one missing. ... There are Qataris who are in a very dangerous situation," he added. Al-Thani said he could not predict what Hamas' response to the latest US principles for a ceasefire would have been had Israel not struck Doha, but said that he believed that Israel and Hamas "are going to run out of chances" to secure a ceasefire. Shortly after the strike, Al-Thani had told reporters that Qatar would not be deterred in its mediation efforts. However, the prime minister said Wednesday that Netanyahu has "undermined any chance of stability, any chance of peace" by targeting Hamas leadership in the Qatari capital. "I've been rethinking, even about the entire process for the last few weeks, that Netanyahu was just wasting our time," Al-Thani said. "He wasn't serious about anything," he added, as he dismissed recent talks as "meaningless." Al-Thani added the Qataris are "reassessing everything" around their involvement in any future ceasefire talks, and added they are in a "very detailed conversation" with the United States government on how to proceed. Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, is a major American ally. US President Donald Trump was informed of the strike only shortly before it began — and not by Israel itself, but by Chairman of the Joint Staff General Dan Caine, according to a US official. Trump immediately told White House special envoy Steve Witkoff to brief Qatar, according to another US official. Witkoff has a longstanding relationship with the Qataris. While Trump stopped short of condemning the attack, on Tuesday his spokesperson said that the president was concerned. Al-Thani told CNN on Wednesday that the United States has expressed their support for Qatar "on many occasions." "I'm following up with all the US officials in order to see what kind of actions can be taken as we speak," Al-Thani added. This weekend, the US proposed a new ceasefire framework. Trump said Israel had agreed to its terms and that it was "time for Hamas to accept as well." Qatar's prime minister pressed Hamas to "respond positively" to this proposal in a meeting in Doha, according to an official familiar with that discussion. Hamas was then due to respond Tuesday evening to the proposal, a diplomat briefed on the talks told CNN, before Israel's strike on Doha. Qatar hopes that there will be a "collective response" to Israel's strike on Hamas officials in Doha, Al-Thani said. "There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region," Al-Thani said. Al-Thani stated that an Arab-Islamic summit will be held in Doha in the coming days, where the participants will decide on a course of action. However, Al-Thani said that Qatar will not ask other regional partners to respond in a particular way. "There is a collective response that should happen from the region," Al-Thani said, "We are hoping for something meaningful that deters Israel from continuing this bullying." — CNN
