Category Archives: Qatar

Israel orders more than 500,000 people to evacuate Beirut’s southern suburbs

Posted on by

Instruction comes as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launches retaliatory strikes

The Israeli military has ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told all residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs – more than 500,000 people – to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”, before Israel launched airstrikes on what he described as Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included several hospitals and government ministries.

Continue reading...

Why Trump’s lavish Saudi courtship leaves Israel on the back foot

Posted on by

Pageantry and trillion-dollar promises reveal how Washington’s loyalties may be tilting toward the Gulf

The White House welcome bestowed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was the most lavish of the Trump presidency, and a gaudily clear statement of its foreign policy priorities.

It was billed as a mere working visit, but it was more extravagant than any previous state visit. The president greeted the prince on the south lawn, the White House’s biggest stage. There were uniformed men on horses bearing flags and a flypast of fighter jets.

Continue reading...

Royal College of Psychiatrists faces member backlash over Qatar partnership

Posted on by

More than 150 psychiatrists sign letter condemning contract to host exams in country with well-documented human rights abuses

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is facing a backlash from members over a controversial partnership with Qatar’s state healthcare provider.

The college has signed a contract with the state-owned Hamad Medical Corporation to host international exams in Doha, enabling psychiatrists from across the Middle East and beyond to apply for membership.

Continue reading...

Gaza risks sliding into deadly limbo of ‘no war, no peace’, top Qatari diplomat warns

Posted on by

Majed al-Ansari calls for international force to be set up urgently to pave way for Israeli withdrawal

Gaza risks sliding towards a deadly limbo where a ceasefire is nominally in place but killing continues, a top Qatari diplomat has warned, calling for rapid progress in setting up the international security force and administration to pave the way for full Israeli withdrawal.

“We don’t want to reach a situation of no war, no peace,” said Majed al-Ansari, adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

Continue reading...

US delegation led by Steve Witkoff due to arrive in Egypt for Gaza talks

Posted on by

White House says it is important ‘that we get this done quickly’ as indirect talks restart in Sharm el-Sheikh

A US delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join talks in Egypt on Wednesday to reinforce President Donald Trump’s involvement in the newly restarted negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

The indirect talks at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea, entered their second day on the second anniversary of the Hamas surprise attack into Israel that triggered the bloody conflict.

Continue reading...

Trump signs order promising measures, including military, to defend Qatar

Posted on by

Text appears meant to assure the Qataris following Israel’s surprise attack on the country targeting Hamas leaders

Donald Trump has signed an executive order vowing to use all measures including US military action to defend the energy-rich nation of Qatar – though it remains unclear just what weight the pledge will carry.

The text of the order, available Wednesday on the White House’s website but dated Monday, appears to be another measure by Trump to assure the Qataris following Israel’s surprise attack on the country targeting Hamas leaders as they weighed accepting a ceasefire with Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Continue reading...

British couple released after detention in Afghanistan say they feared being executed

Posted on by

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and husband Peter, 80, said it was never explained to them why they were imprisoned

A British couple who were reunited with their family in the UK after being released from almost eight months in detention in Afghanistan have said they feared being executed by the Taliban.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife, Barbie, 76, who arrived at Heathrow on Saturday, said it was never explained to them why they were imprisoned in Afghanistan after their arrest in February.

Continue reading...

British couple detained by Taliban in Afghanistan return to UK

Posted on by

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and husband Peter, 80, were released after being held without charge for nearly eight months

A British couple who were detained without charge for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have arrived in the UK.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were released on Friday, having been arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.

Continue reading...

Gulf leaders call on Trump to rein in Israel after Qatar emergency summit

Posted on by

Arab states say US should use its leverage and influence as they promise to ‘activate joint defence mechanisms’

Gulf leaders meeting at an emergency summit in Qatar have called on the Trump administration to use its leverage to rein in Israel following the unprecedented Israeli attempt last Tuesday to assassinate Hamas negotiators in Doha.

Speaking after the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the group’s secretary general, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, said: “We … expect our strategic partners in the United States to use their influence on Israel in order for it to stop this behaviour … they have leverage and influence on Israel, and it’s about time that this leverage and influence be used.”

Continue reading...

Rubio says Netanyahu has full support of US over plans to destroy Hamas

Posted on by

US secretary of state, who is visiting Jerusalem, warns of ‘Israeli counter reaction’ if allies recognise Palestine

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has put the Trump administration’s full support behind Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to Jerusalem, saying Washington’s priorities were the liberation of Israeli hostages and the destruction of Hamas.

In public remarks standing alongside Netanyahu, Rubio did not mention the possibility of a ceasefire, and did not repeat his earlier criticism of Israel for carrying out an airstrike last week aimed at Hamas leaders in Doha, the capital of another close US ally, Qatar.

Continue reading...

US’s Rubio says efforts to recognise Palestinian state make it harder to end war – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is closed.

That brings the press conference to a close, as Netanyahu takes a moment to acknowledge both his and Rubio’s staff who are sat in the front row.

The main takeaways from the event, which lasted just over half an hour, are that the US views international efforts to recognise the Palestinian state as a hindrance to peace efforts and that Netanyahu refuses to rule out future strikes on Hamas leaders – wherever they are.

Continue reading...

Monday briefing: Israel’s bombing of Qatar threatens the fabric of Gulf security

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: For decades, Gulf states have believed that a close relationship with US will guarantee their safety. That is no longer the case

Good morning. Last Monday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, announced that his country had accepted the US ceasefire proposal to end the devastating war in Gaza. The very next day, Israel attempted to kill Hamas’s negotiating team while they were in Qatar’s capital to discuss that same proposal.

Israel, initially bullish about the success of the operation, has since grown more doubtful that it killed any Hamas leaders in Doha. Hamas said that while six people were killed in the bombing – including the son of Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of its political bureau – the top leadership including the negotiating team survived.

UK news | Britain will “never surrender” to far-right protesters who use the English flag as cover for violence and to instil fear, Keir Starmer has said, condemning attacks against police officers and racist harassment after more than 110,000 people attended an extremist London rally.

Crime | Christian Brueckner, prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan police before his pending release from prison in Germany, Scotland Yard has said.

US | The Utah governor, Spencer Cox, has said 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Turning Point USA executive director Charlie Kirk, “does come from a conservative family – but his ideology was very different than his family”. Robinson was not cooperating with authorities, said Cox.

Europe | Poland’s foreign minister has said the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace was an attempt by the Kremlin to test Nato’s reactions by incremental escalations without prompting a full-scale response, as Romania became the second Nato country to report an incursion in a matter of days.

Television | It was a full sweep for Adolescence at the Emmys, winning every award in which the show was nominated tonight. Fifteen-year-old Owen Cooper made history as the youngest ever actor to win the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series. Emmy awards 2025 – full list of winners

Continue reading...

Rubio in Israel for talks to limit diplomatic damage over Qatar strikes

Posted on by

US secretary of state says Trump ‘not happy’ about Israeli attack that targeted Hamas officials in Doha for Gaza talks

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.

Continue reading...

Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar shatters Gulf’s faith in US protection

Posted on by

The attack in Doha upended a decades-old assumption – and left Arab leaders questioning how much they can still rely on Washington

On Thursday, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, led a funeral at the state mosque. Flanked by officials in white thobes, he prayed over six caskets – one draped in a Qatari flag and five bearing Palestinian flags.

Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, which also killed a Qatari officer, marked an unprecedented moment for the Gulf kingdom. The attack undercut the assumption that has underpinned Qatari foreign policy for three decades and reverberated across the Arab region: be useful to the United States, and it will protect you.

Continue reading...

Trump appears sidelined as the US caught unawares by Israel’s unprecedented strikes on Qatar

Posted on by

The White House is caught between supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and patching up relations with a key US ally in the region

In the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas negotiators in the heart of Qatar’s capital Doha, the White House appeared sidelined from halting a conflict that Donald Trump has claimed only he could mediate.

As details of the diplomatic flurry before Tuesday’s extraordinary strike were revealed, it was claimed that the White House had little say in how Israel opened its latest front in its war against Hamas – this one on a US ally hosting negotiations days after Trump had claimed he was close to reaching a deal.

Continue reading...

Starmer condemns Israel’s airstrike on Qatar as No 10 denies prior knowledge of attack

Posted on by

‘Immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and a huge surge in aid into Gaza’ only route to peace, says PM

Keir Starmer has condemned Israel’s strike on Qatar before a meeting with the Israeli president in London on Wednesday.

The UK prime minister said the military strike, which targeted Hamas leaders stationed in Doha, was a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and risked “further escalation across the region”.

Continue reading...

Hamas says it accepts proposal for Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages

Posted on by

Deal would include 60-day halt to violence and exchange of half of living Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners

Hamas officials say they have accepted a proposal for a Gaza ceasefire deal that would include the release of half of the approximately 20 remaining living Israeli hostages as part of a phased resolution to the war, as Gaza health officials said 62,000 Palestinians had died in the 22 months of war.

The proposed deal follows negotiations between Hamas and Egyptian and Qatari officials that have been taking place in Cairo in recent days, and comes after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was confronted on Sunday by Israel’s biggest protests of the war, which called for a deal to secure the release of the hostages.

Continue reading...

Trump tries to move on amid Epstein files backlash as speaker calls for their release – US politics live

Posted on by

President tries to downplay issue amid growing outrage from conservatives

President Donald Trump will meet with Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Wednesday to discuss negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire deal, Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X.

Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since 6 July, discussing a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire that envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the conflict.

Continue reading...

Qatar dashes hopes of rapid Gaza ceasefire, saying talks ‘will need time’

Posted on by

Comments suggest obstacle to Trump’s wish to announce deal during Netanyahu’s Washington visit

Progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza has been slow, officials in Qatar say, dashing hopes of a rapid end to hostilities in the devastated Palestinian territory.

The new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, after both sides accepted a broad US-sponsored outline of a deal for an initial 60-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the 21-month conflict.

Continue reading...

Tuesday briefing: What you need to know about Trump’s declaration of peace between Israel and Iran

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: The US president responds to Iran’s limited retaliation by celebrating the end of the war, with Israel confirming agreement to proposal

Good morning. After the United States attacked Iranian nuclear sites early on Sunday, the question was how Tehran would respond. Last night, we saw the beginnings of the answer – and, at least according to Donald Trump, the end of it.

The retaliation came in the form of ballistic missile attacks on a US base in Qatar. While the Iranian authorities called the operation a “mighty and successful response”, no Americans were harmed – apparently by design. Trump described it as a “very weak response”, suggested that the Iranians had “gotten it all out of their ‘system’”, and added: “CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!”

Protest | UK home secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton and spray-painted two military planes. PA’s lawyers said that Cooper’s proposal was an attack on freedom of expression and assembly.

Politics | Labour MPs have launched a significant rebellion against the government’s ​benefit cuts with an amendment that could kill its ​welfare bill, spearheaded by senior select committee chairs and which sources say could be signed by up to 100 MPs.

NHS | UK health secretary Wes Streeting has launched a national investigation into “systemic” failures in NHS maternity services in England, saying “maternity units are failing, hospitals are failing, trusts are failing, regulators are failing” and there is “too much passing the buck”.

Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia, Iran and North Korea as a “coalition of murderers” during a visit to London, where he held talks with Kier Starmer on how to put further pressure on Moscow to end the war. Ukraine’s president has accused Tehran of being complicit in Russia’s invasion.

Music | U2 guitarist The Edge has officially become an Irish citizen, 62 years after moving from Britain to Ireland, in a step he said was “long overdue”.

Continue reading...