Yossi Mekelberg, senior consulting fellow with think tank Chatham House, tells Al Jazeera that Israel’s strikes on Doha signal a complete lack of respect for international law or the sovereignty of other countries.

“There’s a domestic, internal conversation, which is completely detached from the realities outside Israel, in which everything is permissible”, he told us from London.

“And I must admit, when I heard this news, I was gobsmacked by the very idea that the country was attacked, Qatar, is the one that’s negotiating a ceasefire”, he continued.

He added that Netanyahu’s continued pronouncements of the high importance of bringing home the remaining Israeli captives held in Gaza are not believable, because actions such as this attack undermine the possibility of a ceasefire settlement being reached.

Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry has condemned Israel’s strike on Qatar, saying it shows that Israel is not interested in an agreement to end the war.

“The targeting of the Hamas negotiating delegation while ceasefire talks continue shows that Israel does not aim to reach peace, but rather continue the war,” the ministry said in a statement.

“This situation is clear proof that Israel has adopted its expansionist politics in the region and terrorism as a state policy.”

After the Israeli attack on Doha, Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, says Arab and Muslim countries must “pay attention” to Israel’s plans before it’s too late.

“We warn against a formula for the violations of all countries in the region,” al-Mashat said. “What happened in Doha will happen again and more in the rest of the countries if we do not all unite in confronting the Zionist threat.”

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the air raids a “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar. He added that all parties to the Gaza war must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, rather than destroy the prospect of one.
• Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said the attack violated “all international laws and norms”, adding that “we renew our position calling for the Security Council to assume its responsibilities in maintaining international security”.
• Jordan said it considered Israel’s aggression a “serious threat to the security of the Qatari people”. “We stand with our brothers in Qatar and fully support them in any steps they take against the aggression,” it said.
• Iraq’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, calling it a “cowardly act”, and expressing “full support” for Qatar to confront any aggression.
• Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu strongly condemned the “cowardly” Israeli attack, calling it “a serious violation of international law and is a blatant infringement on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a sovereign nation”.

Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s attack on Qatar “in the strongest terms”, calling it “brutal Israeli aggression and the flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the sisterly State of Qatar”.

It also warned of “the grave consequences resulting from the Israeli occupation’s persistence in its criminal transgressions and its blatant violation of the principles of international law and all international norms”.

Senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash says the United Arab Emirates “stands wholeheartedly with our sisterly state of Qatar” and condemns “the treacherous Israeli attack that targeted it”.

“The security of the Arab Gulf states is indivisible,” Gargash said. He stressed that his country is in “full solidarity with [Qatar] in confronting this aggression”.

Israel engaging in ‘gangster’ behaviour

Here we have again a situation where a proposal is handed over, where Hamas has said it accepts it in principle and is ready to discuss it – and then is bombed.

This is gangster behaviour. This is Mafia behaviour. This is not a state that is involved in diplomacy and negotiations. That’s not how they behave.

I don’t think, analytically speaking, that Israel would carry out any such attack without an American green light. If America indeed did not give a green light, we should be hearing a condemnation coming any minute. The Americans should not procrastinate. The Trump administration needs to condemn this behaviour by its client, Israel, while negotiations are going on, while the Trump proposal is being discussed.

Any less than public condemnation of this kind of mafiosi-type behaviour would not be acceptable from the likes of the United States and certainly not from Western Europe, certainly not from Europe in general, and clearly, there has to be an immediate condemnation from all of the Arab world.

Failure of assassination attempt ‘would not absolve Israel’ of responsibility