At Qatar meet, nations vow to explore legal options to counter Israel actions

Qatar hosted a summit of Arab and Islamic nations on Monday in the hopes of presenting a united response to Israel's attack on Hamas leaders last week in Doha. However, leaders offered different views about what to do, and the group agreed to take only “minimal action”.

A statement called on states to “take all possible legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing its actions against the Palestinians”.

Israel, which launched its invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack, has retaliated against the militant group and other members of Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance elsewhere.

That's fuelled wider anger among West Asian countries already enraged by the deaths of more than 64,000 Palestinians. However, significant differences among the nations likely blunted any attempt at cooperation.

Condemnations came from countries that Israel considers enemies, like Iran. Meanwhile, the nations that have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel were reluctant to sever those ties.

Qatar's ruling emir opened the summit by accusing Israel of not caring about its hostages in Gaza and instead working to ensure Gaza was “no longer livable”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel “should also be squeezed economically” as previous experience showed that such steps yielded results. Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim said, “Severe, punitive actions must be put in place.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged other nations to “isolate the aggressor”. He did not touch on Iran's attack on Qatar but did mention Israel's war on Iran in June.