DOHA/DUBAI:
Israel launched an airstrike against the leaders of Hamas in Qatar on Tuesday, expanding its wide-ranging military actions in the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian group has long had its political base, and potentially dealing a fatal blow to the Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Hamas said five of its members had been killed in the attack, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. It said Israel had failed in an attempt to assassinate the group’s ceasefire negotiation team.
Three bodyguards and negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s aide and son were all killed in the attack, Hamas said, affirming “the enemy’s failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation”. Qatar’s interior ministry said a member of its internal security forces was killed and several others wounded.
Earlier, Hamas political bureau member Suhail al-Hindi told Al Jazeera TV that the group’s top leadership had survived the Israeli attack. Two Hamas sources told Reuters that Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team survived the attack. Reports said one Qatari security official also died in the strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes in response to a Monday shooting in Jerusalem that killed six people and was claimed by Hamas. The White House said President Donald Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action on the US ally’s soil.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said hitting Hamas was a worthy goal, but the United States felt badly about the location of the attack, noting that Qatar is a key security partner of the United States and host to al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military facility in the Middle East.
Leavitt told a briefing that the Trump administration was notified by the Pentagon that Israel was attacking Hamas in Qatar “just before” and President Donald Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu after it.
Leavitt also said the US military was notified “just before the attack”. “The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” Leavitt told the White House briefing.
“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar — a sovereign nation and close ally — that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace — does not advance Israel or America’s goals. However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”
In his call with Qatar’s emir, Trump “assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil.” There was no immediate comment from the US president himself. But Leavitt said he was likely to react either on his Truth Social account, or during an appearance in the Oval Office later on Tuesday.
Qatar condemned Tuesday’s attack as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law. Qatar’s UN Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani wrote to the United Nations Security Council that it will “not tolerate this reckless Israeli behaviour and the ongoing disruption of regional security”.
Israeli officials told Reuters the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Hayya. Israel is still gathering information on the strike and is yet to determine whether any Hamas officials or leaders were killed, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Qatar has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war in Gaza. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told reporters that his country would continue trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza despite Israel’s attack.
“Nothing will deter us from continuing this mediation in the region,” Al Thani said. He added that US officials first warned Qatar of the Israeli attack 10 minutes after the attack began, describing the attack as “treacherous.”
Britain, France and Germany condemned the Israel’s air strikes against Hamas political leaders, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling them “unacceptable regardless of motive” and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer terming them a violation of sovereignty.
Macron made the comments on X, saying that “the war must not be allowed to spread in the region”. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul later also called the Israeli strikes “unacceptable”. He underscored the need for early ceasefire in Middle East.
Starmer said the attack risked “further escalation” in the volatile region. “I condemn Israel’s strikes on Doha… The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a huge surge in aid into Gaza,” Starmer posted on X. “This is the only solution towards long-lasting peace.”
In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni said: “Today’s airstrike by Israel against Hamas leaders in Doha breaches international law and Qatar’s territorial integrity, and risks a further escalation of violence in the region.”
Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni on X voiced “Italy’s support for all efforts to end the war in Gaza”. “Italy remains opposed to any form of escalation that could further aggravate the crisis in the Middle East,” she said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on his X wall saying, “On behalf of the people and Government of Pakistan as well as on my own behalf, I strongly condemn the unlawful and heinous bombing in Doha by Israeli forces, targeting a residential area, and endangering the lives of innocent civilians.”
“This act of aggression by Israel is totally unjustified, a brazen violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar, and constitutes a most dangerous provocation that could imperil regional peace and stability,” he wrote.
“Pakistan stands firmly with the State of Qatar, as well as with the people of Palestine against Israel’s aggression,” the prime minister said, expressing his solidarity with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari royal family, as well as the people of Qatar “at this difficult time’.
