DUBAI (Reuters) -United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s tour of Gulf countries is aimed at coordinating positions after Tuesday’s Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, his diplomatic adviser said on Thursday.
“The President’s Gulf tour reflects a deep conviction in strengthening coordination and cooperation, and in reinforcing the concept of a common destiny,” Anwar Gargash said in a post on X.
Israel attempted on Tuesday to kill Hamas political leaders in an airstrike on the Qatari capital, escalating its military campaign in the Middle East and prompting a flurry of international condemnations.
Sheikh Mohammed was the first head of state to visit Doha after the attack and has since travelled to Bahrain and Oman.
Doha will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit next Sunday and Monday to discuss the Israeli attack, Qatar’s state news agency reported earlier on Thursday.
In a separate statement, the UAE’s foreign ministry condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hostile” remarks against Qatar, emphasizing that any aggression against a Gulf state constituted an attack on “the collective Gulf security framework.”
Netanyahu warned Qatar on Wednesday to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will”. He also accused Qatar of providing safe haven and financing to Hamas, drawing a sharp rebuke from Doha.
UAE, a major oil producer and regional trade and commerce hub with diplomatic sway across the Middle East, signed a U.S.-brokered normalisation agreement with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020, which paved the way for close economic and security ties including defence cooperation.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Enas Alashray; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Nia Williams)
