Qatari Education Minister Lolwah Al-Khater publicly mourned the death of Huthayfa Samir Abdullah Al-Kahlout, a senior Hamas military spokesman who served as the public face of the group’s media strategy during the war in Gaza, drawing renewed scrutiny of Qatar’s ties to the militant group.

In a post on X on Monday, Al-Khater wrote, “It is time for the knight to dismount,” next to a Palestinian flag emoji, widely interpreted as referring to the killed military spokesperson. Hamas’ armed wing officially confirmed the death on Monday, months after he was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip. 

“We announce with pride the martyrdom of the great leader,” a newly appointed and unidentified spokesman said in the video. “We have inherited his title.” 

Al-Khater has repeatedly released statements in support of Hamas figures. The Qatari education leader previously praised Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ former political bureau leader who was killed in Tehran in July, as a “righteous servant who lived faithful to the cause.”

“He lived for his people,” Al-Khater posted on X. “He never engaged in any matter except that of his people and his country, and what served Palestine and Al-Aqsa.”

She also reportedly wrote a poem honoring Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was regarded by Israel and the U.S. as the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and was killed in Gaza in May. 

Qatari officials have helped broker a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas in November 2023 and a broader ceasefire and hostage deal that took effect in January 2025. More recently, Qatari mediators have been working with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner to lay the groundwork for phase two of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan.

Israeli officials and critics have argued that Qatar is not a neutral party in negotiations with Hamas, pointing to sympathy for the terrorist organization among senior figures in Doha. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also voiced skepticism over Qatar obtaining any role in efforts to demilitarize Gaza and establish a postwar plan.

Doha has blamed Israel as “solely responsible for the ongoing escalation” following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and has continued to provide significant financial support to both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Natalie Ecanow, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called Qatar a “financial patron of Hamas,” noting that in 2021 the Gulf state increased financial support to Gaza to $360 million. 

“Qatar has historically served as a haven for private funders of terror,” Ecanow wrote. “And despite taking steps to crack down on terror finance, Qatar hasn’t sufficiently addressed the problem. Qatar hasn’t convicted a single terror financier since 2018, but terror financiers evidently still roam about the emirate.”

In October 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned a Hamas financier based in Qatar whom the Treasury said had “close ties to the Iranian regime” and “was involved in the transfer of tens of millions of dollars to Hamas.”