Trump WH shaken by Israel strikes on Hamas in Qatar

“We want to get the hostages back, but I was very unhappy about how that went down,” Pres. Trump said tonight about Israeli strikes targeting a Hamas meeting in Qatar.

President Trump said tonight that he is very unhappy about Israeli strikes that attempted to target a meeting of Hamas officials in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar today, and that Israel did not inform him in advance about it. The Hamas officials were reportedly meeting in Doha to discuss a new U.S. proposal to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

“I am not thrilled about it. I am not thrilled about the whole situation,” Trump told White House pool reporters as he entered a Washington seafood restaurant tonight a block from the White House, accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and other White House officials.

“We want to get the hostages back,” he continued. “But we are not thrilled about the way that went down today.”

Did Israel tell you in advance, a reporter asked him.

“No,” Trump said, shaking his head.

Was he caught by surprise?

“I’m never surprised by anything, especially when it comes to the Middle East,” Trump said.

“I’ll be giving a full statement tomorrow. But I will tell you this: I was very unhappy about it, I was very unhappy about every aspect of it,” he said. “We’ve got to get the hostages back. But I was very unhappy about the way that went down.”

Earlier, the White House said in what appeared to be a very carefully crafted statement that the Trump administration had been notified by the United States military this morning about the Israeli strikes in Qatar, and that Trump had immediately directed his Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told journalists at the White House press briefing. “However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”

“President Trump immediately directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did,” Leavitt said.

Qatari officials angrily responded to the White House statement that by the time a U.S. official told them of the Israeli strikes, that they could already hear the explosions.

“The statements being circulated about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are baseless,” Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Dr. Majed al Ansari wrote on Twitter. “The call from a U.S. official came during the sound of explosions caused by the Israeli attack in Doha.”

Trump subsequently acknowledged that by the time Witkoff informed the Qataris, it was too late.

“However, unfortunately, it was too late to stop the attack,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack.”

Earlier today, in a sign that he was trying to do diplomatic damage control between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) posted a photo of himself meeting with top Netanyahu advisor Ron Dermer, both of them looking unsmiling. Graham said he had spoken with Netanyahu today, and stressed the Israeli leader’s “admiration” for Trump, and that Trump’s support for Israel is “deeply appreciated.”

But it did not seem like the conveyed flattery and gratitude had cooled tempers in the administration.

And Qatar, which recently gifted Trump a luxury airliner to serve as Air Force One, and which hosts the largest US air base in the Middle East, was livid.

“Attacking a sovereign country that has been working on mediation efforts, particularly targeting the mediation team, is an unethical act of terrorism,” the deputy chief of mission at the Qatari embassy in Washington Hamas AlMuftah wrote on Twitter. “Such actions stem from a reprehensible mindset associated with terrorism.”

Vague notification

The Pentagon acknowledged receiving a notification of the Israeli strike through military channels, but it was “very vague and insufficient to allow for any timely follow-on warnings to countries in the region,” AP Pentagon reporter Konstantin Toropin reported on Twitter, citing a US official. “Specifically, the official said that they were not provided a location for the strike.”

The official reportedly declined to discuss the timing of the notification.

Reports citing Hamas said the Israeli strikes had killed five people, none of them senior Hamas leaders, as well as a Qatari security officer.

It is not very credible that the Israeli action will spur Hamas to make a deal, or advance diplomacy, said Eurasia group Middle East analyst Firas Maksad.

“This is not only an attack against Hamas, this is perceived as an attack against Qatar, which is a key mediator,” Maksad said. “So that can't be conducive of diplomacy.”

Qatar in response suggested they are going to pause their efforts at mediation. “So that’s not a positive sign,” Maksad said.

“Second, if you're Hamas, the message from today is, you're dead, right? We're coming after you, wherever you are, whatever it takes,” he said. “And so if the choice Hamas is being presented is we're going to kill you anyway, why would you lay down your weapons? You are going to take the fighting chance.”

Ex US negotiator: US policy increasingly dictated by Israeli extremists

America’s reputation in the region is being harmed by its policy under the Trump administration being so heavily influenced by Israeli extremists, said former US Middle East peace negotiator Frank Lowenstein.

“I don't know that anybody will ever do business with the Trump administration again on the basis of any trust at all, and honestly, I think that we are now very clearly being driven by Israeli extremists right over the cliff,” Lowenstein said on a J Street Substack Live even today.

The United States, for instance, is denying Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly this month, obviously at the request of the Israelis, he said.

“We’re doing whatever the Israelis want, and what the Israelis want is really what Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and Netanyahu want to do,” Lowenstein said. “So in effect, the policy of the United States, and the prospects for peace in the region, is being dictated by two of the most extreme, messianic religious extremists to have ever served in any government ever. And that's a horrible place for the United States of America to be.”

Witkoff credibility undermined

Dermer had met with Witkoff and Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner in Miami on Monday, but Dermer had not given them any sort of heads up about the impending Israeli attack, Axios reported.

In recent weeks, Witkoff had also assured the Qataris that Israel would not strike Hamas in the country, journalist Alex Marquardt reported today:

Sources tell me Doha grew worried Israel would strike after [Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff] Eyal Zamir warned Aug31 Israel would reach Hamas’ leadership abroad. Doha reached out to Mossad and Witkoff, warning Israel not to attack on Qatari soil, looking for guarantees.

Doha said it would cross a red line and violate their sovereignty. The sources said both Mossad and Witkoff assured Doha that wouldn’t happen. …

But Israel went ahead with the strike and Doha only got a heads up from Witkoff after it was carried out. 10 minutes, the Qatari PM just said, calling it “state terrorism.” “This is a message to the entire region: that there is a rogue player in the region.”

“So with almost zero warning, Israel bombed a close US ally, targeting Hamas leaders who had gathered to discuss the latest US-backed ceasefire proposal,” Marquardt continued. “It doesn’t look like Israel got any of them and now the chances of a ceasefire/hostage deal are even more remote, if not dead.”

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