Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East, speaks to the media outside of the White House on March 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images via TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — U.S., Israeli and Qatari officials are meeting Sunday in an effort to rebuild relations after Israel’s airstrike in September on Qatar, a U.S. ally, Axios reported.
Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, is meeting David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, and a senior Qatari official, Axios reported, citing sources it didn’t identify.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Sunday that ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are going through “a critical moment.”
There’s “a lot of uncertainty” over Middle East stability as deadly Israeli strikes continue to shake fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon and Iran’s standoff with the U.S. remains unaddressed, he told the Doha Forum.
Israel’s strike on Doha, Qatar’s capital, was aimed at leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that attacked Israel in October 2023 — triggering the war in Gaza. The Doha attack prompted rare criticism of Israeli leaders by the White House and unnerved Gulf neighbors of Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East.
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