By: Fern Sidman- Jewish Voice News

The United States, Israel, and Qatar converged in New York on Sunday for what officials describe as a critical diplomatic intervention aimed at repairing the deep fissures that emerged after Israel’s unprecedented strike in Doha earlier this year. According to reporting by Axios and additional context highlighted by Israel National News in a report on Sunday, the meeting represents the highest-level trilateral engagement since the fragile ceasefire in Gaza was brokered—a deal in which Qatar played a pivotal mediating role and which continues to shape regional dynamics.

The stakes surrounding Sunday’s summit are unusually high. Senior U.S. officials privately acknowledge, according to the report at Israel National News, that relations between Jerusalem and Doha have remained strained despite a formal apology conveyed in September. With President Trump preparing to announce the transition into a new phase of the Gaza peace process, Washington is moving urgently to stabilize a diplomatic triad that is indispensable to the next steps of the agreement.

The crisis traces back to September 9, when Israeli fighter jets carried out a targeted strike in Doha aimed at eliminating senior Hamas operatives who had been operating with near impunity from Qatari soil. As Israel National News recounted earlier this fall, while the Israeli strike failed to kill its intended Hamas targets, it resulted in the death of a Qatari security guard. The incident triggered immediate outrage among Gulf states, especially Qatar, which temporarily withdrew from its mediation efforts and demanded explanations from Washington.

Arab capitals, including Doha’s close allies, criticized the Netanyahu government sharply, urging the United States to rein in Israel and warning of a breakdown in delicate regional alignments. The diplomatic fallout was swift: Qatari officials expressed fury behind closed doors, and for several tense weeks the Gaza ceasefire—brokered painstakingly over months—hung in the balance.

The crisis was only partially defused when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his September visit to the White House, placed a direct call to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Netanyahu expressed regret for the death of the Qatari national and underscored that Israel’s military action was driven by urgent security imperatives connected to Hamas terror activity. Qatar subsequently agreed to resume its mediation role, but as the Israel National News report stressed, the diplomatic atmosphere never returned to its previous equilibrium.

Sunday’s meeting was hosted by Steve Witkoff, the White House’s point man on the ongoing Gaza negotiations. Witkoff, who has emerged as a central figure in managing the U.S. role in the Middle East peace architecture, has been tasked with building a trilateral mechanism to keep communication channels open and prevent further breakdowns.

Israel is represented by Mossad Director David Barnea, whose involvement underscores the intelligence-heavy dimensions of the unfolding negotiations. Barnea has been instrumental in monitoring Hamas’s operational rebuild attempts and in coordinating with international partners regarding the group’s disarmament—a central pillar of the Gaza agreement.

Qatar sent a senior diplomat closely linked to its mediation efforts. Although Doha has not publicly disclosed the full delegation list, Israel National News reported that Qatari officials view this meeting as both a diplomatic necessity and a test of Washington’s capacity to guarantee that Israeli military actions will not again spill onto Qatari soil.

Behind the scenes, the Trump administration is pushing for a more formalized structure for communication among the three nations. As detailed in the Israel National News report, the proposed trilateral mechanism would improve real-time coordination, create channels to defuse emerging crises before they metastasize, and reinforce collaborative efforts against shared threats such as regional terror networks and Iranian proxy operations.

Washington believes that only a durable, structured dialogue will prevent further misunderstandings that could jeopardize the ceasefire or ignite a wider regional conflagration. For Israel, the mechanism offers an opportunity to address long-standing concerns about Qatar’s funding networks, its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and the persistent anti-Israel messaging disseminated by Al Jazeera.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, according to sources cited by Israel National News, raised a series of sensitive issues during Sunday’s session. Chief among them are Qatar’s longstanding support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the anti-Israel narrative promoted by Al Jazeera, which Israeli officials accuse of fueling unrest across the Middle East, and allegations that Qatari-linked organizations have helped fund anti-Israel activism across U.S. college campuses

Netanyahu’s allies insist that Qatar cannot simultaneously cast itself as a neutral mediator while enabling structures that undermine Israel’s security and legitimacy.

Nevertheless, Israeli officials acknowledge that Qatar remains indispensable—both for its leverage over Hamas and for its international connections. The core of Sunday’s discussion will therefore revolve around implementing the next phase of the Gaza peace agreement, which includes the supervised disarmament of Hamas, the reconstruction framework for Gaza, and protocols governing the phased transition of authority within the territory.

The convening in New York also reflects a broader shift in regional alignments. Qatar, which straddles alliances with both the West and Islamist political movements, has become a fulcrum in the Gaza negotiations. Israel, feeling both vulnerable and assertive in the aftermath of October 7, is pursuing a maximalist agenda to ensure Hamas’s permanent disarmament and the prevention of any reconstituted terror infrastructure.

The United States, meanwhile, remains under enormous pressure—both domestic and international—to guide the conflict into a sustainable political resolution. As the Israel National News report observed, the U.S. sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of the Gaza agreement, and any breakdown in trust between Qatar and Israel jeopardizes Washington’s broader strategic posture in the Middle East.

Adding urgency to Sunday’s meeting is President Trump’s expected announcement of a transition into a new phase of the Gaza peace process. While details remain tightly guarded, officials familiar with Trump’s plan told Israel National News that the next stage will emphasize accelerated timelines for demilitarizing Hamas, a restructured governance plan for Gaza involving regional stakeholders and expanded humanitarian corridors overseen jointly by U.S., Israeli, and Gulf partners.

Trump’s team views the next phase as critical to preventing Hamas’s political or military regeneration and to reassuring Israel that Gaza will never again be a staging ground for catastrophic terror attacks.

Sunday’s summit may not resolve the deep ideological and geopolitical differences between Israel and Qatar, but it symbolizes a renewed diplomatic architecture capable of preventing crises from spiraling into ruptured alliances.

For Israel, the meeting offers an opportunity to assert its security imperatives while reaffirming its reliance on Qatar’s leverage over Hamas. For Qatar, it provides a platform to restore its image as a indispensable mediator. For the United States, it marks a pivotal effort to stabilize a volatile diplomatic landscape before Trump unveils the next chapter of the peace process.

As the Israel National News report observed, the world will be watching—because the future of the Gaza agreement, and potentially the broader Middle East, hinges on whether the three nations can transform tension into cooperation at this crucial moment.