Israel strikes Hamas officials in Qatar

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By Editor_1
A damaged building, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders, according to an Israeli official, in Doha, Qatar - Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

By Jacqueline Penney with Alice Chancellor in Jerusalem

DOHA – Israel’s military said it carried out air strikes Tuesday (9) targeting senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha, the venue of multiple rounds of talks aimed at ending the Gaza war.

Qatar, which is also a key US ally, condemned the strikes which it said targeted the homes of several members of Hamas’s political bureau residing in the Gulf country, where the militant group’s senior leadership is based.

The strikes were carried out jointly by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency, the two bodies said in a statement.

Neither Israeli officials nor domestic media have confirmed whether the strikes hit their intended targets. Hamas has also not commented on the fate of its leaders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes in response to a Monday (8) shooting in Jerusalem that killed six people and was later claimed by Hamas.

“Yesterday, following the deadly attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed all security agencies to prepare for the possibility of targeting Hamas leaders,” said a joint statement from Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.

“Today at noon (0900 GMT), in light of an operational opportunity… the prime minister and the defence minister decided to implement the directive given last night.”

A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP the group’s negotiators had been “targeted”, though it was not immediately clear whether the attack had caused any casualties.

Among the key Hamas leaders based in Qatar are lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya and political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal.

A White House official told AFP that Israel had notified the United States in advance about the strikes in Qatar, which is home to a large US military base.

But Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli strikes were a “wholly independent” operation.

A video journalist working with AFP in Doha saw a plume of smoke rising from behind a low-rise building.

“The name of the operation in Doha is Summit of Fire. These were air strikes,” an Israeli military official told AFP.

Qatar condemned the attack, saying it had targeted residential buildings housing Hamas political bureau members.

“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the political bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said in a post on X.

It is the first time Israel has carried out air strikes in the Western-backed Gulf state. Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, it has also carried out strikes in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian territories.

The Doha strikes come less than two weeks after Israel’s armed forces chief vowed to target Hamas leaders based abroad.

“Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,” Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on August 31.

Along with the United States and Egypt, Qatar has led multiple attempts to end the Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Despite sealing two temporary truces which saw some hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, the successive rounds of talks have failed to bring a lasting end to the war.

The main Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza expressed “deep concern” following the Israeli attack on Hamas leaders.

“The families of the hostages are following the developments in Doha with deep concern and heavy anxiety. A grave fear now hangs over the price that the hostages may pay,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

The strikes have drawn condemnation, including from UN chief Antonio Guterres, who condemned Israel’s “flagrant violation” of Qatari sovereignty.

Iran, a key backer of Hamas, condemned the attack as a “gross violation of all international rules and regulations, a violation of Qatar’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an attack on Palestinian negotiators”.

Western allies Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attack, among others.

The attack came as Israel stepped up a deadly assault on Gaza City, the Palestinian territory’s largest urban centre.

It marks a sharp escalation on the territory of a state that has been a driving force in ceasefire efforts, with analysts warning that it has derailed any potential for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

“Israel knows exactly what it just did. It just killed the negotiations and any chance of getting its hostages back,” said Muhammad Shehada, a political analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“The office in Doha was central to mediation and de-escalation efforts with Hamas… So basically Netanyahu just took a sledgehammer to this, those decades of diplomacy,” he added.

– Agence France-Presse

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