Netanyahu refuses to rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders abroad

Netanyahu refuses to rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders abroad | World News

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders abroad.

“The principle that terrorists should not have immunity wherever they are, wherever they may be, was not established by me,” he claimed.

Mr Netanyahu was speaking during a news conference with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who was visiting Jerusalem, a meeting which coincided with an emergency summit in Qatar of Arab and Islamic states convened in response to Israel’s attack last week on Hamas leaders in the Gulf state.

The strike killed six people – five members of Hamas and a local Qatari security force member.

Israel-Hamas latest: Emergency Arab summit to condemn ‘brutal’ Israeli attack

Mr Rubio also said Hamas must be eliminated and all hostages released for there to be peace in Gaza.

“As much as we may wish that there be a peaceful, diplomatic way to end it, and we’ll continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we also have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen,” he said, calling Hamas “savage terrorists”.

“Hamas needs to cease to exist as an armed element that can threaten the peace and security of the region.”

When asked how the US will handle Israel’s attack in Doha, Mr Rubio did not answer directly, but said the US was focused on what happens next and it will continue to encourage Qatar to play a role in the talks.

Donald Trump had said he wasn’t “thrilled” after Israel’s strike, but Mr Netanyahu told Mr Rubio: “Your presence here in Israel today is a clear message that America stands with Israel. You stand with us in the face of terror.”

The meeting happened as Israel continued attacks on Gaza City, which it aims to take over and claims is Hamas’ last stronghold.

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Any hope of breakthrough in Gaza has been destroyed

This is a solidarity visit by America at a time Israel is growing increasingly isolated on the world stage.

It’s also damage control by America’s top diplomat. An attempt to calm tensions in the Middle East and rein in Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel attacked a Hamas residence in Qatar.

Publicly it was a display of unity by Marco Rubio answering questions from journalists alongside Israel’s prime minister.

But the words and messaging were carefully choreographed. Mr Netanyahu was at pains to emphasise that the decision to bomb Qatar was Israel’s alone, but he also doubled down on this, refusing to rule out further strikes: “We sent a message to the terrorists – you can run but you can’t hide.”

Marco Rubio was keen to sweep over the diplomatic disaster in Doha. “We are focused on what happens now. What happens next. What role Qatar can play.”

America’s secretary of state has a heck of a job this week trying to repair relationships and get diplomacy back on track.

For now, ceasefire talks are completely off. Trust totally eroded. How do you negotiate with individuals you’ve attempted to kill?

The goodwill of Qatar, which has been hosting the talks and playing the critical role of mediator, has also been seriously tested.

It’s undermined American alliances too. Astonishingly, the US didn’t appear to know this attack was going to happen and didn’t, or couldn’t, stop it.

The concern among other Gulf states is if Israel can bomb Qatar, a key American ally and home to the biggest US airbase in the Middle East, then is anywhere in the region safe?

Mr Rubio will head to Doha tomorrow where an emergency summit of Arab leaders is currently taking place in response to Israel’s actions.

A draft resolution suggests leaders are set to warn Israel that the normalisation of relations between Israel and Arab neighbours is under threat.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the peace deals carved out by Donald Trump during his first term in office, formalising diplomatic relations between Israel and some Arab nations, including the UAE. Mr Trump has called them one of his proudest achievements but it seems Israel’s attack in Doha has put them on life support.

Any hope of a breakthrough on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has been destroyed this week. Just when you think the situation in Gaza can’t get any worse, somehow things take another dire turn.

At least 16 Palestinians were killed in strikes on two homes and on a tent housing a displaced family, local health authorities said.

The army also destroyed a 16-floor building in the west of the city, believed to be the tallest in the Gaza Strip, around an hour after warning displaced families sheltering inside and nearby to leave, saying the building was being used to hide “terrorist infrastructure”.

Three more Palestinians died of malnutrition in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said, taking the number of deaths from such causes to at least 425, including 145 children, since the war began.

The war started when Hamas and other militant groups stormed into Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

More than 64,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s nearly two-year-long campaign, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.