Donald Trump has distanced the US from Israel’s “unfortunate” strike in Qatar, which drew international condemnation and killed five members of Hamas.

The Israeli Defence Forces said it carried out Tuesday’s strike in Doha “targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organisation”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility” for the attack – which the US president echoed on Truth Social.

As it happened: NATO member says it will stand by Qatar

Mr Trump said the US military notified his administration about the Israeli attack on the Qatari capital, and added: “It was not a decision made by me.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”

Mr Trump then said however that eliminating Hamas “is a worthy goal,” and that he believes “this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for PEACE”.

Speaking to reporters a little later, he said he was “not thrilled” about the strike and would make a “full statement” on Wednesday.

Qatar’s UN ambassador says strike ‘cowardly’

Mr Netanyahu said the operation was a “surgical, precision strike,” and claimed it was “completely justified” after six people were killed in Jerusalem – which Hamas took responsibility for.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s interior ministry said that a member of its security forces were killed in Israel’s strike, and its UN ambassador called the attack a “criminal assault” and “cowardly” act.

Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani told the United Nations Security Council that Qatar “not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security,” adding the strike “constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms”.

In a phone call with Mr Trump, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani also said Qatar will take all necessary measures to protect its security and preserve its sovereignty.

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Starmer condemns strike ahead of Herzog visit

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also condemned Israel’s strike, saying it violates Qatar’s sovereignty and risks further escalation in the region.

His comments came ahead of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Britain, where he will meet with the prime minister this afternoon.

Sir Keir said in a statement he intends to raise the issue of the “intolerable situation” in Gaza with Mr Herzog, adding: “We’ve been clear Israel must take action to end [the] horrific scenes.”

In a phone call with the Emir of Qatar, Sir Keir also “gave his condolences for the death of a Qatari security officer killed in the attack”, according to a Downing Street readout.

Protests against Mr Herzog’s visit are widely expected throughout his visit. Demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street yesterday to protest his arrival, while Green Party leader Zack Polanski told Sky News that the official should be arrested.

Mr Polanski, who is Jewish, said: “Welcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“It also serves as a brutal insult to those mourning the thousands of innocent lives lost and to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing ongoing violence and hunger.”

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Israel has strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, but is being challenged on the issue in a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The world’s leading association of genocide scholars, as well as several Israeli human rights organisations, have already accused the country of genocide.

The resurfacing of an affectionate greeting to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, alleged to have come from Lord Mandelson, raises huge questions.

It couldn’t have come at a worse moment – days before Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK, in which Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, will play a significant role.

While he focuses on crafting Anglo-American collaboration on technology, his judgment is under scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

Newly released files, which had been demanded by the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill, appear to contain notes he sent to Jeffrey Epstein.

Follow updates: White House denies Trump behind birthday note

One reads: “…wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!”

“Happy birthday, Jeffrey we love you!!” it concludes.

Mandelson’s connection to the billionaire, who died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, is well documented.

A 2019 JP Morgan internal report flagged a notably close relationship between the two.

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But his alleged use of the words “best pal” suggests a closer and warmer relationship than had been previously acknowledged.

Questioned about it in 2025, the UK’s ambassador to the US expressed “deep regret” over knowing Epstein but dismissed the issue as a media “obsession”.

Peter Mandelson, once dubbed “the Prince of Darkness” within Westminster, is a veteran politician who served in cabinet under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

His appointment as UK Ambassador to the United States in February 2025 surprised many people.

Read more:
What is in Epstein’s ‘birthday book’?

It is unusual for someone considered a political heavyweight to find themselves in what is traditionally a diplomatic role.

Asked about the alleged birthday greeting, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer had “full confidence” in the UK’s ambassador to the US.

The one thing sparing him any difficult questions from the White House is the fact that Mr Trump faces just as many himself over Epstein.

A handwriting expert has said the signature on a controversial birthday message to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is “absolutely” US President Donald Trump’s.

Graphologist Emma Bache compared the signature with others the president wrote at the time, and told Sky News: “It is very much the signature he had in the 2000s. I can absolutely say it is Donald Trump’s.”

Newly released files handed to the United States Congress appear to contain birthday messages to billionaire paedophile Epstein from both the US president and the current British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson.

They include a hand-drawing of a woman’s body, signed “Donald”, a picture of Epstein holding an outsized cheque, signed by “DJTRUMP”, and a message appearing to show Lord Mandelson calling Epstein his “best pal”.

Addressing the release of the image in a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”

But Ms Bache was unequivocal.

“It’s incredibly distinctive. If we look at the way he has formed the ‘o’ of Donald, it’s actually a circle.

“He also has a very long horizontal stroke at the end of his name – which funnily enough is saying to people ‘keep away’ – and it’s absolutely identical in pressure, in length and formation of about every single stroke (to his current official signature).”

She said the capital ‘D’ of his name in the Epstein message, was also very distinctive and exactly the same as another letter written in 1996 and 2000.

The files were handed over following a demand by the Oversight Committee of the US Congress and are from a book compiled by Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, to celebrate his 50th birthday in 2003.

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The White House said the president’s legal team was “aggressively pursuing litigation”.

Ms Bache said she was “not surprised he would deny it”.

She added: “He has an awful lot to lose, but it doesn’t affect my analysis of it.”

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‘You will listen to me – I am right’

After examining a number of his signatures under a microscope, she concluded: “The idea that it could be forged would be almost impossible. I certainly wouldn’t be able to get anywhere close to Donald Trump’s handwriting.

“It’s a very confident, very speedy signature and when you forge something, you do it more slowly.”

She said his modern signature had changed a little but still had clear similarities.

She added: “His modern signature is all angles and in graphology, angles are about energy, aggression, there’s a tension there.

“There’s no softness and his communication style is one of ‘you will listen to me and I am right’.

Ambassador’s denial

Lord Mandelson has also come under scrutiny for his relationship with Epstein – and the release of the files has compounded the issue.

They appear to include a glowing contribution from the Labour grandee, with him calling Epstein his “best pal” and writing of the friend “taking you by surprise… in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)”.

Lord Mandelson’s spokesman said he “very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein”.