According to the U.S. Axios news website on September 20, informed sources revealed that Qatar asked Israel to apologize for its recent attack on Qatar's capital Doha; on this basis, it is possible to resume talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Qatar is apologizing.

Axios News website cited two informed sources as reporting that Qatar Emir (Head of State) Tamim made the request during a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rubio in Doha on the 16th. Earlier, according to Qatar News Agency on the 16th, Tamim and Rubio discussed the Israeli attack on Doha, but the report did not mention the specific content of the conversation.

According to Axios News website, U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steven Witkov will meet with Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed in New York to discuss how to end the crisis between Qatar and Israel and continue negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel announced on Monday a ¡°precise strike¡± against the leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Doha, a move that has sparked strong international condemnation. After the incident, Prime Minister Netanyahu also accused Qatar of ¡°sheltering terrorists¡± and threatened to launch another strike.

Hamas said that when the air strike occurred, the Hamas negotiating delegation was discussing an updated ceasefire plan proposed by the United States. The air strike killed the son of chief negotiator Khalil Haya, Haya's chief of office, three bodyguards and a Qatari security force member, but Israel's attempt to assassinate Hamas top officials "failed".

The aksios news website quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Qatar may agree to show some flexibility in the wording of Israel's apology: Qatar may accept Israel's apology for the death of Qatar personnel caused by the attack, promise compensation and will not violate Qatar's sovereignty again.

This photo released by the General Administration of National Security of Israel (Shin Bet) shows that on September 9, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (middle), Israeli Defense Minister Katz (first from left) and others were in a Shin Bet command center. Communicate inside. Xinhua News Agency

According to the report, Israel¡¯s ¡°excuses first after the attack¡± to its Middle Eastern allies were not unprecedented. In 2010, the Israeli army intercepted the Turkish rescue ship ¡°Blue Marmara¡± to the Gaza Strip, killing 10 Turks. The Turkish side asked Israel to apologize and compensate for the losses, and was rejected by the Israeli side. Turkey subsequently announced that it would reduce diplomatic relations with Israel to a second secretary and suspend all military agreements between the two sides. In 2013, Prime Minister Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for the Turkish deaths caused by the ¡°Blue Marmara¡± incident, and then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted his apology.

The ¡°misjudgment¡± of Israel

A senior Israeli official said that Israel underestimated the consequences of the attack on Qatar, and Netanyahu has now realized the "misjudgment".

The aksios news website said in a previous report that the raid on Doha not only failed to achieve Israel's goal of "eliminating Hamas leaders", but had a backlash effect: on the one hand, more and more people within the US government and in the international community believe that Netanyahu's government is reckless and a force that aggravates regional turmoil; On the other hand, it angered the mediator Qatar, Hamas negotiators went underground, and the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza were forced to suspend.

In addition, the U.S. government wants to make more Arab countries¡¯ plans to normalize relations with Israel more difficult to advance now. During his first presidential term, Trump joined the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and other Arab countries to sign the ¡°Abraham Agreement¡± with Israel to quickly promote bilateral relations normalization. Saudi Arabia has suspended negotiations to normalize relations after the outbreak of conflict in Ben-Rubai in October 2023.

This is the scene of the press conference after the Arab-Islamic emergency summit filmed in Doha, Qatar on September 15th. Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Niku)

The summit issued a communiqué condemning Israeli attacks on Qatar and calling for a review of diplomatic and economic relations with Israel. Iran¡¯s President, Peshawar, who attended the summit, warned that Israel could attack any Arab country or the capital of the Islamic state, ¡°we must stand together.¡±

A senior Israeli official told the Axios news site that Netanyahu ¡°was passionate about regional bullying and no one could predict what he would do next.¡±