New York, September 12, 2025: The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned Israel’s deadly strike on Doha earlier this week, urging restraint and reaffirming support for Qatar’s sovereignty in a statement agreed upon by all 15 members, including Israel’s closest ally, the United States.
The statement, drafted by France and the United Kingdom, came ahead of an emergency session convened to address Israel’s unprecedented attack targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital. The strike killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer, but Hamas said its leadership survived. The attack coincided with internal Hamas talks over a US-proposed peace deal, prompting fears of a collapse in mediation efforts.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar,” the statement said. It also reiterated that securing the release of hostages in Gaza and ending the humanitarian crisis remained “top priority.”
The US, which routinely shields Israel at the UN, delivered an unusually sharp rebuke. Acting Ambassador Dorothy Shea said: “Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation bravely working alongside the United States to broker peace, does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals.” However, she cautioned that the episode should not be used to question Israel’s commitment to securing the release of hostages.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reported that Washington pushed back against harsher language in the draft, but the statement still marked a significant departure from the US’s usual position. He noted that while the US continues to defend Israel at the Council, “this was a bridge too far.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who flew in for the session, condemned Israel’s leadership as “arrogant” and accused it of deliberately undermining peace efforts. “Israel is impetuously destabilising the region,” he warned, vowing that Doha would continue its humanitarian and diplomatic role but “would not tolerate further breaches of its sovereignty.”
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo described Qatar as a “valued partner in advancing peacemaking” and called the strikes an “alarming escalation” with the potential to open “a new and perilous chapter in this devastating conflict.” She also noted the broader pattern of Israeli strikes across Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.
Algeria’s UN envoy Amar Bendjama delivered one of the session’s strongest interventions, saying: “Israel behaves as if law does not exist, as if borders are illusions, as if sovereignty itself is a dispensable notion. This is not strength, it is recklessness — the conduct of an extremist government driving the region and the world toward the abyss.”
Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon defended the strike, insisting that the targets were Hamas leaders operating from the “luxury confines of Doha” and dismissing them as “terrorists, not legitimate politicians or diplomats.”
Observers said the meeting revealed overwhelming support for Qatar and unusually sharp criticism of Israel, with several members calling for accountability.
