US President Donald Trump delivered an unusually sharp reprimand during a heated call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing anger
that the United States had been blindsided by an Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Citing senior administration officials, the Journal reported that Trump told Netanyahu during a call on Tuesday that the decision to carry out the attack in Doha, which has been hosting the ceasefire negotiations, “wasn’t wise.” The President was said to be furious to have first learned of the strike from the US military, rather than from Israel, as it was unfolding on the territory of a key American ally. Netanyahu replied that he had only a narrow window of opportunity to launch the strikes and seized it. The first call between the two leaders was described as tense, while a subsequent conversation was more cordial, the Journal said. Trump asked whether the strike had achieved its objective to which Netanyahu admitted he did not know. Hamas later claimed its senior political figures survived, though six lower-level representatives were killed.
The incident has underscored what one senior US official told the Journal was Trump’s growing frustration with Netanyahu, whose unilateral military decisions have often complicated Washington’s broader goals in the region. Trump has voiced support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas but has also pressed for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
The strike in Doha has derailed ceasefire talks and infuriated Qatari officials, who have served as crucial mediators. Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, later said his country would not abandon its role, though the prospects for renewed negotiations remain uncertain.
Netanyahu, for his part, signalled that further operations were likely. “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” he said in a video statement on Wednesday.
The Israeli leader has long been skeptical of a ceasefire, citing Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages. Trump, meanwhile, has made ending conflicts, and pursuing the Nobel Peace Prize, a hallmark of his second term.
According to the Journal, the two leaders have repeatedly surprised one another with unilateral actions, from Israeli strikes on Iran to Trump’s decision to halt a US campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Despite these, their relationship has endured, with Netanyahu calling Trump “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House” at a public event in Bat Yam on Wednesday.
