DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar hosted a summit of leaders of Arab and Islamic nations Monday in the hopes of presenting a united response to Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week. But the group has few ways to restrain Israel as its war in the Gaza Strip grinds on.

Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and since then it has also retaliated against the militant group and other members of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance elsewhere, including in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and now Qatar. That’s led to wider anger among Mideast nations already enraged by the over 64,000 Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza — and a growing concern that the U.S. commitment to protect Gulf Arab states may not be strong enough.

However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve. Significant tensions among the nations meeting could blunt cooperation — and they also have few levers they can pull. Condemnations from countries that Israel considers enemies, like Iran, will mean little. Meanwhile, the nations attending that have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel may be reluctant to sever ties.

“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said. “The key question is whether … (the summit will) signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”

Qatar’s ruler offers fiery speech

Qatar’s ruling emir opened the summit by accusing Israel of not caring about its hostages held in Gaza and instead only working to ”ensure Gaza is no longer livable.” Israel has said the goals of its war include bringing all the hostages back and defeating Hamas.

“If Israel wishes to assassinate the Hamas leaders, why then engage in negotiations?” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani asked. “If you wish to insist on the liberation of hostages, why then do they assassinate all negotiators?”

The speech was unusually fiery for the 45-year-old ruler of Qatar, which has served as key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war.

“There is no room to deal with such a party that’s cowardly and treacherous,” he added. “Those who work consistently to assassinate the party in these negotiations will certainly do everything to ensure the failure of these negotiations. When they claim that they seek the liberation of hostages, that’s a mere lie.”

Sheikh Tamim also denounced Israel over what he called the “genocide” it is committing in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies it is committing genocide. It says Hamas is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.

A variety of regional leaders attended the summit, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Iran, which hit a base in Qatar in June, is attending the summit

After the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a major hub for American forces — a move that angered Qatar. Nevertheless, Iran sent President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend Monday’s meeting. Before leaving Tehran, Pezeshkian noted the wide breadth of nations Israel has attacked since Oct. 7.

“This regime has attacked many Islamic countries,” he said. “It does whatever it wants, and unfortunately, the United States and European countries also support these actions.”

Writing on the social platform X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added: “Iran stands with Qatar and indeed all Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly against the scourge that is terrorizing the region.”

Araghchi and Pezeshkian did not mention Iran’s attack on Qatar and received an honor guard welcome when landing in Doha.

Qatar has been key in Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks

Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that hosted the 2022 World Cup, long has served as an intermediary in conflicts. For years, it has hosted Hamas’ political leadership at the request of the U.S., providing a channel for Israel to negotiate with the militant group that has controlled Gaza for years.

But as the Israel-Hamas war has raged on, Qatar increasingly has been criticized by hard-liners within Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu himself has vowed to strike all those who organized the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023. And since last week’s strike, the Israeli leader has doubled down on saying Qatar remains a possible target if Hamas leaders are there.

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump offered renewed support for Qatar.

“We’re with them. You know, they’ve been a great ally,” Trump said. “A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally, and they also lead a very difficult life because they’re right in the middle of everything.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Monday for meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to express America’s concern over the attack on Qatar and talk about Israel’s planned new offensive on Gaza City.

Rubio declined to address Israel’s strike while speaking to journalists in Jerusalem, but said that America wanted to work with all its partners in the region on stopping Hamas and reaching a ceasefire in the war.

“We’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard,” Rubio said.

Netanyahu again added that Israel’s decision to attack Qatar “was a wholly independent decision by us.”

Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the Israeli public to end the war and bring home the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, whom 20 are believed by Israel to still be alive.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.

Israel’s ensuing offensives in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of war casualties. Israel disputes them but has not provided its own.

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This story has been corrected to remove an extra “is” in the quote from Qatar’s ruling emir.

Confirmation that Joe Burrow is set to miss at least the next three months after surgery to repair torn ligaments in his toe didn’t come until Monday, but the Bengals reportedly didn’t wait for that word before starting to make plans for a future without the quarterback.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Bengals started reaching out to free agents after Burrow went down in the first half of Sunday’s win over the Jaguars. Jake Browning played the rest of the game and the Bengals also have Brett Rypien on their practice squad.

One familiar face on the list of free agents is Desmond Ridder. Ridder spent the summer in training camp with the Bengals, which would give him a leg up on learning the offense although his play in Atlanta and Las Vegas did little to create confidence in his ability to lead a team.

Mike White, Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Trask, and Nate Sudfeld are some of the other available quarterbacks. The Bengals could also sign someone to their active roster off another team’s practice squad or they could look into the trade market.

Falcons backup Kirk Cousins is one of the names that will come up on that front. Jameis Winston of the Giants and Case Keenum of the Bears are both the third quarterbacks on their roster while the Eagles have both Sam Howell and Tanner McKee backing up Jalen Hurts, but it’s unclear whether any of those teams are going to be motivated to make a move at this point in the season.