LIVE | 'Al-Arouri's Killing Hindered Gaza War Mediation': Qatar Slams U.S. Amid Blinken Visit

Well, Mr. Prime Minister, Mohammad, my friend, thank you for today and for the very good meetings that we had. And indeed, thank you for the work that we've been doing from the start since October 7th and the horrific attacks on Israel. It's now, as you said, been three months since those attacks, and this is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering. So from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading. And that is indeed a major focus of what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7th. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis, this morning with King Abdullah in Jordan, and in the meetings that I just had with the Emir and with the Prime Minister. We share a commitment to ensure that the conflict does not expand. And I think we also share a commitment to use the influence, the relationships, the ties that we have with different parties in the region to try to avoid escalation and to deter new fronts from opening. This is not just a regional issue; it's a matter of global concern. And that's certainly the case when it comes to the Houthi attacks on freedom of navigation in one of the world's busiest trade corridors, the Red Sea. These attacks have directly affected the citizens, the cargo, the commercial interests of more than 40 countries. They've disrupted or diverted nearly 20% of global shipping. More than a dozen shipping companies have had to reroute thousands of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. And what that means is it takes longer to get goods to where they're supposed to go, it increases the cost, and that cost gets passed on to consumers around the world, whether it's food, whether it's fuel, whether it's medicine, humanitarian assistance, you name it. So these attacks by the Houthis are hurting people around the world, most of all the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including in Yemen, including in Gaza. That's why the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian together with more than 20 countries to defend the safety and security of commercial shipping across the Red Sea. It's also why over a dozen countries have made clear that the Houthis will be held accountable for future attacks. We'll continue to defend maritime security in the region as part of our overall effort to deter and prevent further regional conflict, to ensure the free flow of commerce that is so vital to people around the world. In all of my meetings over the last two days, we discussed ongoing efforts to better protect civilians in Gaza and to get more humanitarian assistance to them, and to get the remaining hostages out and home with their loved ones. Qatar was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the simultaneous release of more than 100 hostages, including American citizens, and a pause in the fighting that during that time enabled us to double the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. We are deeply grateful, and I say to you and to the Emir for your ongoing leadership in this effort, for the tireless work that you undertook and that continues to try to free the remaining hostages. To those still being held hostage, to their loved ones, to their families, I promise you this: the United States will continue to work relentlessly to bring you home, to get you together with your family and loved ones. Now, we have made some measurable progress in increasing the aid getting into Gaza, including through the opening of Kerem Shalom, but it is still insufficient to meet the massive need. And then once in Gaza, the barriers to getting the aid to where it needs to go beyond Rafah remain far too high. Too many Palestinian civilians are suffering from insufficient access to food, to water, to medicine, to other essential supplies. Children most of all. We continue to raise with Israel the need to do everything possible to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and I will do so again when I'm there later this week. I will also raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilian casualties. Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed. The United Nations is playing an irreplaceable role in delivering and distributing life-saving assistance to people in Gaza. As the United Nations Security Council affirmed in Resolution 2720, we welcome the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator. I had the pleasure of working very closely with Sigrid Kaag when she led the UN mission that successfully eliminated the Assad regime's stockpile of chemical weapons. I witnessed firsthand her professionalism, her integrity, her effectiveness. She has the full support of the United States, and we expect that she will have the full cooperation of every country in the region. This morning I had an opportunity to meet with the UN staff from the World Food Program at an aid distribution warehouse in Jordan. I thank them for the genuinely heroic work they're doing, putting their own lives in danger to try to get assistance to Palestinian men, women, and children. And I can say the same about other extraordinary relief workers, most of them in the United Nations system, who are doing this day in and day out. We are proud to be their supporters as the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. The experts that I met with this morning spoke to conditions in Gaza where over 90% of the population is facing acute food insecurity, going days and nights without anything to eat. That can cause lifelong, irreversible harm for children. An immediate increase in aid is essential, as is improving deconfliction procedures to ensure its safe and secure delivery, including to Northern Gaza. As Israel moves to a lower intensity phase of its military operation in the north, the United Nations can also play a crucial role in evaluating what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return home. Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza. We reject the statements by some Israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. These statements are irresponsible, they are inflammatory, and they only make it harder to secure a future Palestinian-led Gaza with Hamas no longer in control and with terrorist groups no longer able to threaten Israel's security. Of course, even as we focus on our immediate goals, we also must work toward lasting peace and security. The United States has a vision for how to get there: a regional approach that delivers lasting security for Israel and a state for the Palestinian people. In my meetings on this trip, we also discussed what each country can do to provide the assurances and the incentives required to build a more secure, a more stable, a more peaceful future for the region. And my takeaway from the discussions so far, including here with our friends in Qatar, is that our partners are willing to have these difficult conversations and to make hard decisions. All of us feel a stake in forging a way forward. All of us recognize that we have to work together. That is the only way forward, and it cannot wait. So I look forward to carrying on these discussions with more partners in the days ahead. Thank you.

My first question is for His Excellency the Prime Minister. We see so many changes in the region, and there are so many targets of some leaders like in Beirut and also leaders in Syria and also inside Iran. What is the implication of that on the region? And does it have anything to do with mediation? Targeted by the IDF, including our colleague, son of our colleague. What is the situation? Does the United States condemn targeting journalists, innocent journalists? And what is the position of the United States government in this case?

I am deeply, deeply sorry for the almost unimaginable loss suffered by your colleague Al Arouri. I am a parent myself; I can't begin to imagine the horror that he has experienced, not once but now twice. This is an unimaginable tragedy. And that's also been the case for, as I said, far too many innocent Palestinian men, women, and children, civilians, also journalists, Palestinian and others. The Committee to Protect Journalists has found that now some 70 journalists have been killed in Gaza. One is far too many. And the value that we place upon their work, your work, bringing information, facts to the world, it's never been more important. So this is why we are pressing the need, the imperative, not only of making sure that humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it, but that people are protected from harm from this conflict in the first place. And ultimately, it's why ending the conflict and finding, as we just discussed, a genuinely durable, lasting peace where Israel does not have to fear the repeat of October 7th, and men, women, and children can live in peace and security in Gaza, in the West Bank, wherever they may be.

Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, President Biden said proposals to condition aid to Israel were worthy of thought in November when the death toll in Gaza was 12,000. Now the estimated death toll is almost double that, and the administration has rushed weapons to Israel in that time. Is conditioning military support to Israel a worthy thought or thesis of what the administration would ever consider? Um, Prime Minister Al Thani, when it comes to planning for postwar Gaza, what are Qatar's conditions for playing a role in reconstruction? The US is deeply involved in postwar planning. Does it have the requisite moral authority in the eyes of the world? Thank you.

Any military assistance we provide is done consistent with national law and the laws of war. That's something that we look at very carefully on an ongoing basis. And we will want to make sure in this case as in any other case that any weapons that we provide are used in accordance with those reporting requirements. That's something we take very, very seriously. We'll continue to do so.

Well, Mr. Prime Minister Mohammed, my friend, thank you for today and for the very good meetings that we had. And indeed, thank you for the work that we've been doing from the start since October 7th and the horrific attacks on Israel. It's now, as you said, been three months since those attacks, and this is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering. So from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading, and that is indeed a major focus of what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7th. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis, this morning with King Abdullah in Jordan, and in the meetings that I just had with the Emir and with the Prime Minister. We share a commitment to ensure that the conflict does not expand, and I think we also share a commitment to use the influence, the relationships, the ties that we have with different parties in the region to try to avoid escalation and to deter new fronts from opening. This is not just a regional issue; it's a matter of global concern, and that's certainly the case when it comes to the Houthi attacks on freedom of navigation in one of the world's busiest trade corridors, the Red Sea. These attacks have directly affected the citizens, the cargo, the commercial interests of more than 40 countries. They've disrupted or diverted nearly 20% of global shipping. More than a dozen shipping companies have had to reroute thousands of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, and what that means is it takes longer to get goods to where they're supposed to go, it increases the cost, and that cost gets passed on to consumers around the world, whether it's food, fuel, medicine, humanitarian assistance, you name it. So these attacks by the Houthis are hurting people around the world, most of all the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including in Yemen, including in Gaza. That's why the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian together with more than 20 countries to defend the safety and security of commercial shipping across the Red Sea. It's also why over a dozen countries have made clear that the Houthis will be held accountable for future attacks. We'll continue to defend maritime security in the region as part of our overall effort to deter and prevent further regional conflict, to ensure the free flow of commerce that is so vital to people around the world. In all of my meetings over the last two days, we discussed ongoing efforts to better protect civilians in Gaza and to get more humanitarian assistance to them, and to get the remaining hostages out and home with their loved ones. Qatar was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the simultaneous release of more than 100 hostages, including American citizens, and a pause in the fighting that during that time enabled us to double the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. We're deeply grateful, Minister, to you, to the Emir, for your ongoing leadership in this effort, for the tireless work that you undertook and that continues to try to free the remaining hostages. To those still being held hostage, to their loved ones, to their families, I promise you this: the United States will continue to work relentlessly to bring you home, to get you together with your family and loved ones. Now, we've made some measurable progress in increasing the aid getting into Gaza, including through the opening of Kerem Shalom, but it is still insufficient to meet the massive need. And then once in Gaza, the barriers to getting the aid to where it needs to go beyond Rafah remain far too high. Too many Palestinian civilians are suffering from insufficient access to food, to water, to medicine, to other essential supplies, children most of all. We continue to raise with Israel the need to do everything possible to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and I will do so again when I'm there later this week. I will also raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilian casualties. Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed. The United Nations is playing an irreplaceable role in delivering and distributing life-saving assistance to people in Gaza. As the United Nations Security Council affirmed in Resolution 2720, we welcome the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator. I had the pleasure of working very closely with Sigrid Kaag when she led the UN mission that successfully eliminated the Assad regime's stockpile of chemical weapons. I witnessed firsthand her professionalism, her integrity, her effectiveness. She has the full support of the United States, and we expect that she will have the full cooperation of every country in the region. This morning I had an opportunity to meet with the UN staff of the World Food Programme at an aid distribution warehouse in Jordan. I thank them for the genuinely heroic work they're doing, putting their own lives in danger to try to get assistance to Palestinian men, women, and children. And I can say the same about other extraordinary relief workers, most of them in the United Nations system, who are doing this day in and day out. We're proud to be their supporters as the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. The experts that I met with this morning spoke to conditions in Gaza, where over 90% of the population is facing acute food insecurity, going days and nights without anything to eat. That can cause lifelong, irreversible harm for children. An immediate increase in aid is essential, as is improving deconfliction procedures to ensure its safe and secure delivery, including to northern Gaza. As Israel moves to a lower intensity phase of its military operation in the north, the United Nations can also play a crucial role in evaluating what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return home. Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza. We reject the statements by some Israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. These statements are irresponsible, they're inflammatory, and they only make it harder to secure a future Palestinian-led Gaza, with Hamas no longer in control and with terrorist groups no longer able to threaten Israel's security. Of course, even as we focus on our immediate goals, we also must work toward lasting peace and security. The United States has a vision for how to get there: a regional approach that delivers lasting security for Israel and a state for the Palestinian people. In my meetings on this trip, we also discussed what each country can do to provide the assurances and the incentives required to build a more secure, more stable, more peaceful future for the region. And my takeaway from the discussions so far, including here with our friends in Qatar, is that our partners are willing to have these difficult conversations and to make hard decisions. All of us feel a stake in forging a way forward. All of us recognize that we have to work together. That is the only way forward, and it cannot wait. So I look forward to carrying on these discussions with more partners in the days ahead. Thank you.

My first question is for His Excellency the Prime Minister. We see so many changes in the region, and there are so many targets of some leaders like in Beirut and also leaders in Syria and also inside Iran. What is the implication of that on the region, and does it have anything to do with the mediation? And also, regarding the targeting by the IDF, including our colleague, the son of our colleague, what is the situation? Is the United States condemning the targeting of innocent journalists? And what is the position of the United States government in this case?

I am deeply, deeply sorry for the almost unimaginable loss suffered by your colleague Al Adu. I am a parent myself. I can't begin to imagine the horror that he's experienced, not once but now twice. This is an unimaginable tragedy. And that's also been the case for, as I said, far too many innocent Palestinian men, women, and children, civilians, also journalists, Palestinian and others. The Committee to Protect Journalists has found that now some 70 journalists have been killed in Gaza. One is far too many. And the value that we place upon their work, your work, in bringing information and facts to the world, it's never been more important. So this is why we are pressing the need, the imperative, not only of making sure that humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it, but that people are protected from harm from this conflict in the first place. And ultimately, it's why ending the conflict and finding, as we just discussed, a genuinely durable, lasting peace, where Israel does not have to fear the repeat of October 7th, and men, women, and children can live in peace and security in Gaza, in the West Bank, wherever they may be.

Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, President Biden said proposals to condition aid to Israel were a worthwhile thought in November when the death toll in Gaza was 12,000. Now the estimated death toll is almost double that, and the administration has rushed weapons to Israel in that time. Is conditioning military support to Israel a worthwhile thought, or is it something the administration would ever consider? And Prime Minister Al Thani, when it comes to planning for post-war Gaza, what are Qatar's conditions for playing a role in reconstruction? The US is deeply involved in post-war planning. Does it have the requisite moral authority in the eyes of the world?

John, any military assistance we provide is provided consistent with international humanitarian law, the laws of war, and that's something that we look at very carefully on an ongoing basis. And we will want to make sure, in this case as in any other, that any weapons that we provide are used responsibly. That's something we take very, very seriously, and we'll continue to do so.