President Trump, during a White House meeting on Monday, handed a phone to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which led to the guest’s apology to the prime minister of Qatar over the recent Israeli attempt to kill Hamas leaders at Doha. 

The apology was part of a larger move in which Qatar, an American ally and Hamas patron, is expected to play a role in ending the Gaza war. Mr. Trump “expressed his desire to put Israeli-Qatar relations on a positive track after years of mutual grievances and miscommunications,” the White House said in a statement, adding that America would set up a trilateral committee to that end. 

As a first step, according to the statement, Mr.Netanyahu “expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman.” He also “expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”

Israelis on both sides of the political map, including a right-wing Likud member, Orit Strook, and the leader of the leftist Democrats Party, Yair Golan, harshly criticized Mr. Nethayahu’s apology. Yet, as Qatar has much influence over Hamas, the apology is widely perceived as a step toward ending the Gaza war and the return of all hostages.   

The Qatari premier, Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, welcomed the apology, and promised to work toward contributing to regional peace. “The leaders discussed a proposal for ending the war in Gaza, prospects for a more secure Middle East, and the need for greater understanding between their countries,” according to the White House.