Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, while vowing that Qatar will keep up its mediation in the region.
Asked in an interview with the journalist Piers Morgan whether he considered Netanyahu a war criminal, he replied: “Of course. What’s been committed in Gaza is war crimes, and whoever is responsible for this is a war criminal,” Anadolu Agency reported.
“Hospitals have been targeted, schools have been targeted. Whatever the justifications and the arguments, nothing is justifying this,” he said.
“Attacked while we were mediating”
Sheikh Mohammed recalled Israel’s strike on Doha on September 9, 2025, which killed five members of Hamas and a Qatari security officer. “We were attacked by Israel while we were mediating,” he said, calling it unprecedented.
Despite that, Qatar is continuing its role as a go-between, including in the war between the United States and Iran. “We are trying to do our best to give the best advice to the US government on how to reach a solution, as well as to the Iranians,” he said.
He said three issues had to be resolved for peace in the region: Iran’s nuclear programme, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and a regional security framework built on dialogue and non-aggression.
US lawmakers press Netanyahu on settler violence
Pressure on Israel is also growing in Washington. Dozens of Democrats in the US House of Representatives wrote to Netanyahu urging him to act against settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
“Israeli settler attacks have made daily life unsafe for Palestinians across large parts of the West Bank,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, dated September 24. Their letter cited:
- 1,122 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023 and July 24, 2026
- About 6,000 Palestinians displaced from 107 communities since January 2023
- More than 1,380 settler-related incidents in over 250 Palestinian communities since January 2026
- A 27 percent rise in settler attacks in 2025, and a 63 percent rise in serious incidents in the first half of 2026
- Nine American citizens killed in the West Bank since January 2022
The letter also noted that 67 Israelis had been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank since January 2023.
Three demands
The lawmakers asked Netanyahu to:
- Make sure Israeli police and the army defend Palestinian communities under attack
- Set up a transparent way to investigate violence against Palestinians, and finish the inquiries into the deaths of the nine Americans
- Stop approving settlements and keep removing illegal outposts
Why it matters
When the prime minister of the country at the centre of Gaza and Iran mediation calls Israel’s leader a war criminal on international television, it shows how far patience with Netanyahu has run out in the region. And when members of Congress, from Israel’s closest ally, write about settlers making life unsafe for Palestinians, it shows the pressure is not only coming from the Muslim world. Read our reports on the settler attacks on three West Bank villages and on the UN list of companies linked to settlements.
This article draws on reporting by Anadolu Agency.
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