Summit leads to little action after Israeli strike on Hamas in Doha

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Summit leads to little action after Israeli strike on Hamas in Doha

2025-09-16 05:20 Last Updated At：05:30

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar hosted a summit of Arab and Islamic nations Monday in the hopes of presenting a united response to Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders last week in Doha. But leaders offered different views about what to do, and the group agreed to take only minimal action.

Israel, which launched its invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has retaliated against the militant group and other members of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance elsewhere, including in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and now Qatar. That’s fueled wider anger among Mideast nations already enraged by the deaths of more than 64,000 Palestinians during the war in Gaza and contributed to growing concern that the U.S. commitment to protect Gulf Arab states may not be strong enough.

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. Monday was the fifth anniversary of the signing by Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates of the Abraham Accords that marked their formal recognition of Israel.

“Condemnations will not stop the missiles. Declarations will not free Palestine," Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “Severe, punitive actions must be put in place.”

Qatar’s ruling emir opened the summit by accusing Israel of not caring about its hostages in Gaza and instead working to ”ensure Gaza is no longer livable.” Israel has said the goals of its war include bringing all the hostages back and defeating Hamas.

“If Israel wishes to assassinate the Hamas leaders, why then engage in negotiations?” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani asked. “If you wish to insist on the liberation of hostages, why then do they assassinate all negotiators?”

The speech was unusually fiery for the 45-year-old ruler of Qatar, which has served as key mediator in ceasefire talks.

“There is no room to deal with such a party that’s cowardly and treacherous,” he added. “Those who work consistently to assassinate the party in these negotiations will certainly do everything to ensure the failure of these negotiations. When they claim that they seek the liberation of hostages, that’s a mere lie.”

Sheikh Tamim also denounced Israel over what he called the “genocide” it is committing in Gaza — an assessment offered by multiple others at the summit. Israel vehemently denies it is committing genocide. It says Hamas is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel “should also be squeezed economically, as previous experience shows that such steps yield results.”

After the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a major hub for American forces — a move that angered Qatar. Nevertheless, Iran sent President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend Monday's meeting, where he urged other nations to “isolate the aggressor.”

Pezeshkian did not touch on Iran's attack on Qatar but did mention Israel's war on Iran in June. He also warned that any country in the region could be next.

“The attack on Doha changed lots of miscalculations and wrong ideas," he said. "It showed that no Arab or Muslim country is safe from the aggression of the regime in Tel Aviv. Tomorrow it can be any Arab or Muslim capital’s turn.”

Before the summit, analysts floated possibly closing airspace to Israeli flights or downgrading ties with Israel. A final statement from the meeting, however, only called on states to “take all possible legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing its actions against the Palestinian people.”

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, held its own meeting on the sidelines of the summit. Its members decided to take steps “to activate the mechanisms of joint defense and the Gulf deterrence capabilities,” they said in a statement, without elaborating.

Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that hosted the 2022 World Cup, long has served as an intermediary in conflicts. For years, it has hosted Hamas’ political leadership at the request of the U.S., providing a channel for Israel to negotiate with the militant group that has controlled Gaza for years.

But as the Israel-Hamas war has raged on, Qatar increasingly has been criticized by hard-liners within Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu himself has vowed to strike all those who organized the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023. And since last week's strike, the Israeli leader has doubled down on saying Qatar remains a possible target if Hamas leaders are there.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Monday for meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to express America's concern over the attack on Qatar and talk about Israel's planned new offensive on Gaza City. Rubio planned to pay a quick visit to Qatar on Tuesday as the administration seeks to ease tensions between its two close allies.

Rubio declined to address Israel's strike while speaking to journalists in Jerusalem, but he said America wanted to work with all its partners in the region to stop Hamas and reach a ceasefire in the war.

“We’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard,” Rubio said.

Netanyahu again added that Israel's decision to attack Qatar “was a wholly independent decision by us.”

Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the Israeli public to end the war and bring home the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed by Israel to still be alive.

The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the abduction of 251.

Israel’s ensuing offensives in Gaza have killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of war casualties. Israel disputes them but has not provided its own.

Buddhist monks and their dog captivate Americans while walking for peace

A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.

In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.

Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.

Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”

Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.

Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.

This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.

Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.

“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.

The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.

Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.

“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”

In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.

He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.

“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”

After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.

“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.

“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.

But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.

Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.

Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.

“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”

On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.

“Today is my peaceful day.”

Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.