White House says Netanyahu ‘expressed deep regret’ that Israeli strike on Doha killed Qatari serviceman – live | Trump administration

Here is the White House’s readout confirming the trilateral call reported earlier during which Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani over Israel’s strikes on Doha earlier this month.

Today, President Donald J. Trump hosted a trilateral phone call with His Excellency Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and His Excellency Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani of Qatar.

The President expressed his desire to put Israeli-Qatar relations on a positive track after years of mutual grievances and miscommunications.

The leaders accepted the president’s proposal to establish a trilateral mechanism to enhance coordination, improve communication, resolve mutual grievances, and strengthen collective efforts to prevent threats. They underscored their shared commitment to working together constructively and clearing away misperceptions, while building on the longstanding ties both have with the United States.

As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman.

He further 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.

Prime Minister Al Thani welcomed these assurances, emphasizing Qatar’s readiness to continue contributing meaningfully to regional security and stability. Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed commitment to the same.

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.

President Trump praised both leaders for their willingness to take steps toward greater cooperation in the interest of peace and security for all.

Chris Stein

A top House Democrat has condemned Republican speaker Mike Johnson for cancelling the chamber’s final two work days of the month, as the parties remain at loggerheads over how to prevent a government shutdown.

The House of Representatives was scheduled to be in session today and Tuesday but the Republican leadership cancelled those days earlier this month, in what was seen as an effort to pressure Democrats to accept their proposal for keeping the government funded beyond Tuesday.

In a letter to Johnson, House Democratic whip Katherine Clark said cancelling those days delays the swearing-in of newly elected Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva, as well as undermines the funding negotiations.

“We ask that you reverse your decision to cancel votes on Tuesday, September 30. If you remain unwilling to call the House into session, Representative-elect Grijalva should be sworn in during the pro forma session on Tuesday,” she wrote.

Once sworn in, Grijalva is expected to provide the final signature needed for a petition forcing a vote on legislation to release files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to succeed.

“Any delay in swearing in Representative-elect Grijalva unnecessarily deprives her constituents of representation and calls into question if the motive behind the delay is to further avoid the release of the Epstein files,” Clark said.

Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to the Qatari prime minister over the Doha strike while at the White House this morning, according to multiple outlets.

According to Axios, which first reported the call, Netanyahu apologized to Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani for violating Qatar’s sovereignty in carrying out the strike and expressed regret for killing a civilian.

According to CNN’s Israeli source, Netanyahu did not, however, say he was sorry for targeting Hamas.

Axios reports that the apology call was a key Qatari condition for resuming its mediation with Hamas over a deal to end the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages.

A Qatari technical team is also at the White House, a separate source briefed on the talks told Reuters. The New York Times also reports that a delegation of Qatari officials is in Washington as a part of an effort to achieve a deal.

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has spoken to reporters ahead of the looming 11th-hour meeting with Donald Trump and top bipartisan leadership later this afternoon to try to avoid a government shutdown.

Asked if Democrats would back a seven-week funding bill if Republicans say they will negotiate an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of the year, Jeffries said “no one can trust” the Republicans’ promises on healthcare.

Highlighting that the Senate failed to pass a Democratic-led government funding proposal that included a permanent extension of them, he told reporters:

Enough with the games that Republicans have been playing connected to the health care of the American people. No one can trust their word on health care. Are you kidding me?

He also brought up previous GOP efforts to repeal the ACA, telling reporters:

These people have been trying to repeal and displace people off the Affordable Care Act since 2010 – that’s 15 years. On behalf of the American people, we’re supposed to simply take their word that they’re willing to negotiate? The American people know that would be an unreasonable thing for us.

Responding to Trump’s repeated claim that it’s up to Democrats whether the government shuts down, Jeffries said: “We’ve said from the beginning that we’re willing to find a bipartisan path forward.”

He accused Republicans of trying to “misrepresent” the Democratic position, for example by falsely claiming that they want to extend healthcare to so-called “illegal aliens”. Jeffries emphasized that it’s already illegal for undocumented immigrants to receive federal healthcare benefits.

Let me address the continued effort to try to misrepresent the Democratic position. In fact, Republicans are lying because they know they don’t have the high ground. They have a weak position because they’re trying to continue to hurt the American people.

He added:

Nowhere have Democrats suggested that we’re interested in changing federal law. The question for the president is whether he’s interested in protecting the health care of the American people.

He said the Democratic leadership will “have a good faith negotiation about landing the plane in a way that avoids a government shutdown” but doesn’t compromise on their demands.

House speaker Mike Johnson has “implored his Republican members on a private call this morning to stay unified in their position as the government barrels towards a shutdown and said he does not plan to bring the House back this week”, two sources on the call have told CNN.

The sources added that Johnson called on GOP lawmakers not to hold political events this week even though many will remain in their districts with the House not in session. He suggested he would bring the House back next week.

The orders from Johnson to the House GOP conference comes just hours before the top four congressional leaders will meet with Donald Trump at the White House in a last-ditch effort to avoid a shutdown before the government runs out of funding tomorrow night.

Johnson indicated that congressional GOP leaders are planning to hold a joint news conference on Wednesday – the first day of a would-be shutdown, the sources added.

The UAE is pressing Benjamin Netanyahu to accept Donald Trump’s Gaza peace proposal at their meeting today and to abandon any plan to annex the West Bank, a delegate with knowledge of the matter has told Reuters.

The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent Arab country to normalise ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords during the first Trump administration, warned Netanyahu that annexation would shut the door to further Israeli normalisation with leading Arab and Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the delegate added.

The Israeli PM faces pressure to annex the occupied West Bank from far-right Israeli politicians who want to extend sovereignty over the area and snuff out hopes for a two-state solution.

We are waiting for Netanyahu to give Israel’s response to Trump’s Gaza peace proposal at his meeting with the US president today.

The UAE position on Trump’s plan was communicated to Netanyahu by its foreign minister sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in a meeting with the Israeli leader on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Friday, the delegate told Reuters. He called on Netanyahu to engage seriously with the Trump administration to move the plan forward to implementation, the delegate said.

Benjamin Netanyahu just arrived at the White House, where he was greeted by Donald Trump.

The two leaders shook hands and briefly exchanged a few words, and Trump answered a question shouted from a reporter before heading inside.

Asked if he was confident a ceasefire deal could be reached, the president said: “I am. I’m very confident.”

Netanyahu stood by smiling and didn’t respond when asked if he was on board.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to arrive at the White House any minute now for pivotal talks on the latest US-backed plans for postwar Gaza with Donald Trump.

The Trump administration’s 21-point peace plan has reportedly been largely well received by leaders from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia. But it contains a number of “red lines” for Netanyahu’s far-right allies, who are propping up his government and pressuring him to take a hard line.

Though the Israeli prime minister signalled openness to the plan over the weekend, he has been long criticised for repeatedly prioritising his hardline allies over reaching a realistic cease-fire deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages and end Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 66,000 Palestinian people and left the territory all but uninhabitable. Netanyahu would no doubt dispute that charge over his priorities, but with Israel more isolated than ever on the world stage, we shall see how willing he is to finally reach an agreement shortly.

The United States will impose a 100% tariff on all foreign-made movies, Donald Trump has said in a post on Truth Social this morning, an unprecedented move that threatens to upend Hollywood’s global business model.

The step signals Trump’s willingness to extend protectionist trade policies into cultural industries, raising uncertainty for studios that depend heavily on international box-office revenue and cross-border co-productions.

“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby’,” he wrote.

It was not immediately clear what legal authority Trump would use to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-made films. White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on how the tariffs would be implemented. Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast, Paramount Skydance and Netflix also did not immediately respond to requests.

Shares of Netflix were down 1.5% in early trading.

The president had threatened to impose such levies earlier in May but offered very few details, leading to confusion among entertainment industry executives about whether it would apply to specific countries or all imports.

Studio executives told Reuters earlier this year that they were “flummoxed” by how a movie tariff might be enforced, given that modern films often use production, financing, post-production and visual effects spread across multiple countries.

The move has drawn skepticism from legal and trade analysts. Some argue films are a form of intellectual property and part of the global trade in services, an area where the US often runs a surplus, raising questions about the legal basis for tariffs.

Co-productions with foreign studios have also become more common, adding to doubts about how such films would be classified.

As I was writing that, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told Fox and Friends that Israel and Hamas are “very close” to reaching an agreement on a framework deal to end the war in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.

Leavitt said Donald Trump would discuss the 21-point peace plan with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House later today. The US president will also speak today with leaders in Qatar, who have served as intermediaries with Hamas, she said.

“To reach a reasonable deal for both sides, both sides have to give up a little bit and might leave the table a little bit unhappy, but that is ultimately how we are going to end this conflict,” she said.