Despite conflicting reports about Israeli pre-warning of strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, Netanyahu affirms Trump's account - ‘Israel acted alone’

On Monday, U.S. news site Axios reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar about 50 minutes before the strike took place. 

The Axios report cited seven Israeli officials who claimed that Israel did give a pre-warning of the strike, even though the White House has maintained that it received no such warning.  

“Trump knew about the strike before the missiles were launched,” one Israeli official reportedly told Axios. “First, there was a discussion on the political level between Netanyahu and Trump, followed by one through military channels. Trump didn't say no.” 

According to the Axios report, Netanyahu called Trump around 8:00 a.m., Israeli time, with the first explosions reported in Doha at 8:51 a.m. 

Another of the Israeli officials was reported to have told Axios that "the missiles were not fired when Netanyahu called Trump, giving enough time for the Americans to react."

“If Trump had wanted to stop it, he could have,” said the second official. “In practice, he didn’t.” 

The White House maintains that Netanyahu did not inform Trump ahead of time, and that the only warning came from the U.S. military after it detected the missile launches and had sought clarification from Israel. U.S. Central Command then notified President Trump, who ordered special envoy Steve Witkoff to update the Qatari government. 

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the U.S. call came after the first missile hit. 

Another of the Israeli officials told Axios that the White House version of events is being made for diplomatic considerations, in order not to anger the Qataris. 

President Trump has reiterated personally that he had no advance knowledge of the strike and said that Israel “won’t be hitting Qatar” again. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never claimed to have updated President Trump ahead of time. In a statement to 𝕏 last week, he wrote, “Today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation. Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.” 

During his remarks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Netanyahu reaffirmed his statement that Israel "acted alone."

On Tuesday evening, speaking to a press conference about the Israeli economy, Netanyahu was again asked if he had updated President Trump, as reported by Axios. 

Netanyahu responded saying, “What the White House said is correct, we didn’t involve them.” 

Following publication of the report, U.S. officials reached out to Axios, challenging the account provided in the story, and saying the statements by the officials were unreliable. 

“These anonymous Israeli sources making false accusations against the President of the United States and his Administration should smarten up,” one of the officials told Axios.