Qatar has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012 and has served along with the US and Egypt as a mediator in indirect negotiations between the group and Israel throughout the 23-month war in Gaza. It is also a key US ally in the region and hosts a major American airbase.
On 9 September, Israeli jets fired missiles at a residential compound in the Qatari capital where Hamas's negotiating team was discussing a previous US ceasefire proposal.
Hamas said the assassination attempt failed and that five lower-level members were killed, including chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya's son and the director of his office, along with a member of Qatar's Internal Security Force.
Netanyahu insisted at the time that the strike was "fully justified" because it targeted Hamas leaders who had organised the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, and had launched further attacks on Israelis since then.
However, Qatar reacted with fury, saying the strike was a "criminal assault" that constituted a "blatant violation of all international laws and norms".
Trump said he was "very unhappy about every aspect" of the strike.
On Monday, the White House announced that the president had hosted a phone call with the Israeli and Qatari prime ministers in an effort to put relations "on a positive track after years of mutual grievances and miscommunications".
"As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel's missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman," a statement said.
"He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future."
The Israeli prime minister's office quoted Netanyahu as telling Sheikh Mohammed that Israel "regrets that one of your citizens was killed in our strike" and that it had "no plan to violate your sovereignty again in the future".
However, Qatar's foreign ministry said that Netanyahu had "apologised for the attack on Doha and on Qatar's sovereignty" and had pledged to "not repeat any targeting of Qatari territory".
Sheikh Mohammed had expressed "appreciation for the assurances" and underscored Qatar's "readiness to continue engaging in efforts to bring an end to the war in the Gaza Strip, within the framework of the US president's initiative", it added.
[SRC] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20z3ykyxwzo
