Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani waits for the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Lusail, Qatar, on Oct. 13.
Photographer: Jacquelyn Martin/AFP/Getty Images
Israel-Hamas War Escalation Puts Qatar’s Clout to the Test
After spending years building soft power, the wealthy Gulf nation is under pressure to show its Western allies they need it as much as it needs them.
It took just a few hours after Hamas’s assault on Israel for Qatar’s prime minister to assemble a team at an undisclosed location in the capital, Doha. As the images emerged of missile attacks, gun men on motorbikes and hostages seized across the border from Gaza, the Gulf state’s leadership knew what it needed to do.
As the days unfolded from Oct. 7, the round-the-clock operation worked the phone lines — one to Hamas, another to the Israelis — to mediate as retaliatory bombs rained on Gaza, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.