White House disputes Israeli claim it had prior notice of air raid targeting Hamas leaders in Doha.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that he was not informed in advance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about last week’s airstrike in Qatar that targeted Hamas political leaders — a strike that drew sweeping condemnation across the Middle East.
Speaking to reporters, Trump flatly rejected reports that the White House had been looped in before the raid. “No, no, they didn’t,” Trump said when asked if Netanyahu had personally alerted him. “They didn’t tell me.”
His comments came after Axios reported that Israeli officials had notified Washington shortly before the missiles were launched, though the timing would have left little room to intervene. The Trump administration, by contrast, maintains it only learned of the operation after the strike was already under way.
Netanyahu’s office reinforced that account, insisting the raid was a “wholly independent” Israeli decision.
The strike — carried out against a residential building in Doha’s Qatara district where senior Hamas figures were believed to be meeting — killed several Hamas leaders and a Qatari security officer. It marked the first time Israel had conducted a direct attack inside the Gulf state, rattling regional capitals and sparking an emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha.
For Washington, the incident poses a delicate balancing act. The United States counts both Israel and Qatar as close allies: Israel as its strongest partner in the region, and Qatar as a crucial mediator in ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. The attack, however, has raised concerns that Israel is willing to bypass both US coordination and Qatari sovereignty in pursuit of Hamas leadership abroad.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza — now entering its second year — has killed tens of thousands, displaced the enclave’s entire population, and triggered famine conditions, according to UN officials. Rights experts and international scholars have accused Israel of committing genocide, a charge Netanyahu’s government strongly denies, calling its actions an act of self-defense after the October 2023 Hamas assault that killed 1,200 Israelis and left more than 250 taken hostage.
With Israel extending its military reach from Gaza into Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran — and now Qatar — the White House faces renewed questions about how much control it exerts over its closest ally’s expanding war.
