Israel has struck at Hamas targets inside Qatar, in a dramatic escalation of its efforts to kill leaders of the terror group it is battling in Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who this week warned Hamas to accept a ceasefire offer or face consequences, reportedly gave the Israeli military the green light for the strikes, which took aim at a U.S. ally that is home to a major U.S. military base.
Israeli sources said they believed they had killed their targets, but Hamas said its leaders had survived the strikes, which rocked the Qatari capital Tuesday afternoon.
Qatar has until now played a prominent role in brokering unsuccessful ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
It is also home to many of Hamas’ political leaders, whom Israeli officials said after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that they intend to hunt down regardless of their location. The strikes Tuesday took aim at a residential compound that Reuters said was known to be the home of some of the leaders and has been under Qatari guard during the current Israel-Hamas war.
Among those targeted in the attack was Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya, who met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha on Monday, according to CNN. Other Hamas leaders known to be living in Qatar include Khaled Mashal — who helmed the political division before Ismail Haniyeh, whom Israel assassinated last year — and Zaher Jabarin, the group’s top finance official
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel had acted alone. “Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” the office said. “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”
The strikes add Qatar to the list of countries where Israel has conducted operations since Oct. 7. It has conducted a ground war, airstrikes and a strategic operation in Lebanon, which houses Hezbollah; bombed targets in Iran, where it assassinated Haniyah; struck Hezbollah targets inside Syria; and has bombed the Houthis in Yemen, who have sent dozens of missiles toward Israel.
The Israeli military acknowledged Tuesday’s strikes in a statement that did not explicitly name Qatar. “The IDF and ISA conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israeli military wrote in a post on X. “The IDF and ISA will continue to operate with determination in order to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for the October 7 massacre.”
Qatar condemned the strikes, which a Foreign Ministry spokesman tweeted writing on X that they had targeted a “residential headquarters.”
“While the State of Qatar strongly condemns this attack, it affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the continuous tampering with the region’s security, nor any action targeting its security and sovereignty,” wrote the spokesman, Majed al-Ansari.
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