Qatar Museums fly Palestinian flag in the aftermath of Hamas attack on Israel

The leadership of the National Museum of Qatar and the Museum of Islamic Art, both in Qatar, Doha, projected images of the Palestinian flag onto the exterior of both museums within 36 hours of the terrorist group Hamas launching an attack against Israel.

The attack killed more than 900 Israeli citizens and resulted in the abduction of around 150 hostages, according to the most recent official figures.

The surprise assault launched Saturday morning has resulted in a declaration of war by the state of Israel against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and has dramatically heightened diplomatic tensions across the region.

Israel has launched a retaliatory attack that, according to reports, has resulted in the deaths of around 830 people as of Tuesday 10 October, according to a statement shared by the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Israeli military has said it has recovered the bodies of around 1,500 Palestinian fighters.

Sheikha Al-Mayassa, sister of Qatar’s ruling emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and chairperson of Qatar Museums, shared images of the projected flags on the evening of 8 October, to her more than a million followers on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, with the message: “Oh Allah, we entrust Palestine and its people to you.”

Via the Instagram stories function, Al-Mayassa also today (10 October) reposted a series of pro-Palestinian tiles and statements, as well as sharing a post on X by the Palestinian-American writer Remi Kanazi that reads: “Israelis felt like Palestinians for a day and apparently they don’t like it.”

The decision by Sheikha Al-Mayassa and Qatar Museums to post and project images of the Palestinian flag comes against the backdrop of news that Qatari mediators, representing the Qatari emir, are attempting to negotiate the freedom, via a prison swap, of the scores of Israeli women and children seized by the militant group on 7 October and whom are now held in Gaza, according to a report by Reuters.