Doha, Qatar – Six coffins – 5 of them draped in Palestinian flags, one in a Qatari flag – have been laid earlier than the lots of gathered for funeral prayers at Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque.
Sitting within the entrance row of the congregation on Thursday was Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He was there to honour these killed in an Israeli assault this week that has shaken Qatar.
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Amongst these killed was Lance-Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a 22-year-old member of the Inner Safety Forces. Within the crowd after the prayers, the emir comforted a younger boy with tears rolling down his cheeks.
The sombre feeling on the funeral adopted the shock of Tuesday’s assault, which focused Hamas leaders as they have been discussing a Gaza ceasefire proposal introduced by the USA. The leaders survived the assault.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, attends a funeral held for these killed by an Israeli assault in Doha (Qatar TV/Reuters)
Disbelief
The assault passed off on Tuesday afternoon within the metropolis’s West Bay Lagoon space. A number of blasts rang out throughout Doha, sending up a thick plume of smoke and uniting its residents in equal elements shock and horror. Although the character of the incident was rapidly obvious, Doha’s repute for security solid a shadow of doubt over whether or not it actually may have been attacked.
Since gaining independence in 1971, the nation has confronted no conflicts which have escalated into direct army motion on its territory. When Iran carried out its strike earlier this 12 months, Qatar was extra of a circumstantial participant – its function formed largely by the presence of a significant US army base.
Mohammed Asim, 40, who moved to Doha from Bangladesh along with his spouse and two youngsters and works within the wholesale meals commerce, lives a few kilometre from the constructing that was hit and mentioned he had by no means believed such a factor may occur within the metropolis.
“I believed a home was being demolished, because the sounds of the explosions, which got here one after the opposite, jogged my memory of that,” he instructed Al Jazeera. “It wasn’t till I noticed the information that I realised.”
Smoke rises after an explosion brought on by an Israeli drone assault in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 (UGC by way of AP)
‘Lord, make this land safe’
About 45 minutes after the strike, I arrived with my colleague, photojournalist Showkat Shafi, within the Diplomatic Space in West Bay close to Doha’s coast, simply as particulars have been starting to achieve newsrooms worldwide. We parked the automotive just a few blocks down from the location and walked about 500 metres till we arrived close to the location. Earlier than us stood a big crimson-walled compound, its facade torn open, ashen particles spilling by means of the extensive gate, with wisps of smoke nonetheless curling from the courtyard the place one other strike had hit.
Two drones, one fibre optic and the opposite distant, hovered above the compound for hours, offering mild after nightfall, as emergency companies dug by means of the rubble.
All entrances to the streets close to the compound have been cordoned off. Beside us have been members of varied branches of Qatar’s safety companies, civil defence groups and several other ambulances on standby. Because the evening drew on, the police presence thinned, with households in close by homes often glancing out of their home windows on the safety forces and their obvious crimson and blue siren lights.
The constructing, located in a residential space with three faculties close by, housed members of Hamas’s political bureau.
Qatar has promised to behave in coordination with regional allies. Within the days that adopted the assault, regional leaders, crown princes, prime ministers, and ministers have visited Doha in a present of unity and solidarity, essentially the most outstanding amongst them the United Arab Emirates president, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Pakistan’s chief, Shehbaz Sharif.
Even US President Donald Trump joined the refrain of solidarity with Qatar, saying that such an assault wouldn’t occur once more, even when he did add that “eliminating” Hamas was a “worthy aim”.
However is that sufficient to reassure Qatar and its folks?
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Overseas Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani addresses delegates throughout an emergency assembly of the United Nations Safety Council, following the Israeli assault on Hamas leaders in Doha (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Trump’s phrases haven’t offered a lot reassurance to Doha’s inhabitants, whose as soon as peaceable abode is now caught straight within the crosshairs of Israel’s wars within the area, turning into one among six international locations that Israel has attacked simply this week.
Billboards carried quick messages to assist calm nerves. At West Bay’s Metropolis Centre Mall, one among Doha’s hottest malls, the Prophet Abraham’s well-known prayer – “Our Lord, make this land safe” – was emblazoned on its partitions.
I requested a resident of the town, who solely provided his first title, how he felt about Trump’s assertion that such an assault wouldn’t occur once more. “Israel behaves nonetheless it needs, and after a little bit of harsh language, issues return to earlier than,” Mohammed mentioned, including, “We’ll see what Trump truly does.”
