By Muhammad Mamman
Leaders from Arab and Muslim nations are holding an emergency summit in Doha on Monday, a week after Israel’s unprecedented airstrike on Hamas targets in Qatar triggered global outrage.
The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting aims to intensify pressure on Israel amid mounting calls to end the war in Gaza and address the worsening humanitarian crisis.
Hamas confirmed its senior officials survived last week’s strike in an upscale Doha neighbourhood, which killed six people and drew sharp criticism—including from US President Donald Trump.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Israel of waging a “war of extermination” in Gaza, urging the international community to abandon “double standards” and hold Israel accountable.
A draft communiqué seen by AFP warned that Israel’s “brutal aggression” endangered efforts to normalise ties with Arab states, stressing that ongoing “genocide and ethnic cleansing” undermined peace prospects and existing agreements such as the Abraham Accords.
The summit, bringing together nearly 60 countries, will also underscore the need for collective security and regional unity. Attendees include Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
A Saudi diplomatic source also confirmed that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will convene an extraordinary meeting in Doha on Monday.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored Washington’s support for Israel, visiting Jerusalem’s Western Wall alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
Analysts say the world is now looking for concrete action. “We’ve exhausted all forms of rhetoric. Now it’s just going to have to be actions—and we’ll see what those actions will be,” said Aziz Algashian, a Saudi-based researcher on Middle East relations.
