Israel has launched a deadly attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar, in an assault that threatens to plunge the region into a wider conflict.
Israel media, citing a senior Israeli official, said the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its Gaza chief.
Al-Jazeera reported that Hamas negotiators had been hit in Doha, quoting senior Hamas official. An AFP journalist said the explosions had rocked a Hamas compound.
Doha immediately condemned the ‘cowardly’ attack, described as a ‘flagrant violation to all international law’.
An Israeli official said the United States had been notified before the strike, according to Reuters.
Read our live blog below for coverage of the attack:
Netanyahu: Doha strike WAS in retaliation for Hamas’ Jerusalem gun massacre
Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes targeting Hamas top chiefs in Doha following a deadly shooting in Jerusalem a day earlier claimed by the Palestinian militant group.
‘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,’ a joint statement from Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
‘Today at noon, in light of an operational opportunity… the prime minister and the defence minister decided to implement the directive given last night.’
Hamas tdday claimed responsibility for the shooting that killed six people on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Two gunmen boarded a bus on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks the city has witnessed in recent times.
Police shot dead two gunman. A third suspect was arrested a short while after.
Video: Blasts heard in Doha as Israel confirms it launched operation
Israel carried out what it called a precise strike on Hamas’ senior leadership in Qatar on Tuesday, with the Palestinian group claiming the IDF targeted negotiators.
Several blasts were heard in Doha, the Qatari capital, this afternoon as the IDF claimed responsibility for the unprecedented strikes.
The IDF said that it and the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet, had ‘conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership’ of Hamas.
‘Prior to the strike, measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,’ it said, vowing to ‘continue to operate … to defeat the Hamas terrorist organisation’.
Read the full story by James Clark, here:
Just how have Middle Eastern countries reacted?
Middle East and Arab countries have reacted in horror at Israel’s attack on Doha.
Qatar branded the missile strikes as a ‘criminal assault’ and ‘cowardly’ act which was a ‘flagrant violation’ of international laws.
Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, warned the kingdom would deploy ‘all capabilities’ to support Qatar after the attack, according to Saudi state news.
It’s unclear if this could involve military support.
The statement also warned Israel of ‘grave consequences’ resulting from its ‘persistence in criminal transgressions’.
also hit out and said it ‘strongly condemns’ the strike, which it said sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ and ‘undermines’ global efforts for de-escalation in the region.
Breaking:Video: Moment building in Doha is obliterated by Israel
This is the moment Israel’s missiles struck a building in Doha, as the IDF sought to target Hamas’ top terror leaders in Qatar today.
Pope Leo: ‘The entire situation is very serious’
Pope Leo, who typically refrains from speaking off the cuff, expressed unusually forceful concern on Tuesday about the consequences of Israel’s strike in Qatar.
‘There’s some really serious news right now: Israel’s attack on some Hamas leaders in Qatar,’ the pontiff told journalists outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
‘The entire situation is very serious,’ Leo said. ‘We do not know how things will go. It is really serious.”
Leo, the first US pope, has tended to take a diplomatic approach that is more muted=than his predecessor, Pope Francis. He usually sticks to the Vatican’s careful diplomatic language, but has been ramping up criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
The pope met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the Vatican last week, after which the Vatican said Leo had lamented the ‘tragic situation in Gaza’ with Herzog.
Leo spoke today after news that Israel had launched a strike in Doha, which it said was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator.
‘We must continue working and insisting on peace,’ the pope told the journalists, who also asked for comments about the situation in Gaza.
Ceasefire negotiations in Qatar are cancelled
Reports claims all ceasefire negotiations between Isreal and Hamas in Qatar have been cancelled.
It followed the Israeli airstrike against senior Hamas officials in Doha earlier today.
Breaking:Two killed in Doha but Hamas chief not among the dead, reports say
Palestinian media have claimed two people were killed in Israel’s strike in Qatar – but that top Hamas chiefs have survived.
Reports name the dead as Himam al-Hayya, the son of Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, and Jihad Labad, the director of Khalil al-Hayya’s office.
According to the reports, no other Palestinians were killed in the attack, The Times of Israel has claimed.
However, these reports have yet to be independently verified.
Israel: Doha attack planned for ‘several months’
The raid against Hamas chiefs in Doha had been in the works for several months, accord to Israel’s Army Radio.
Israel ‘decided to accelerate preparations for the battle’ after Hamas ‘showed greater intransigence’ over a peace deal, it says.
‘Weekly meetings were held in the Israeli military to ensure the readiness of all intelligence and operational bodies for the operation,’ the report claims.
The onslaught came hours after Hamas claimed responsibility for a deadly gun attack in Jerusalem.
Defence analysts say Israel’s airstrike today would not necessarily have been in direct response to Monday’s attack.
However, some experts claim it may have swayed decision amongst Israeli leadership to launch such an audacious air strike into Qatar.
It’s unclear just what sort of geopolitical impact this will have on Israel.
The United States was told about the attack before it happened. However, it’s understood Qatar was not informed.
Qatar’s statement – in full
Here is everything Qatar had to said on the attack against Hamas chiefs in the country’s capital of Doha:
Was the Doha strike in response to Hamas’ deadly gun attack in Israel?
Today’s strike in Qatar came shortly after Hamas claimed responsibility for a gun attack in Jerusalem that killed six people on Monday.
The strikes also come less than two weeks after Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir vowed to target the group’s leaders based abroad.
‘Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,’ Zamir said on August 31.
‘May all your enemies perish, Israel,’ Culture Minister Miki Zohar posted on X.
Hamas and Israel have held multiple rounds of indirect ceasefire negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States throughout the nearly two-year Gaza war. Despite two temporary truces, the talks have failed to bring a lasting end to the war.
Who is Khalil Al-Hayya – the top Hamas chief targeted by Israel
Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official targeted by Israel in Qatar on Tuesday, has become an increasingly central figure in the leadership of the Palestinian militant group since both Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar were killed last year.
Israeli officials told Reuters the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator. Two Hamas sources told Reuters the group’s ceasefire negotiation delegation in Doha survived the attack.
At the heart of ceasefire negotiations during the war that erupted two years ago, Hayya has been widely seen as the group’s most influential figure abroad since Haniyeh was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024.
He is part of a five-man leadership council that has led Hamas since Sinwar was killed by Israel last October in Gaza.
Hailing from the Gaza Strip, Hayya has lost several close relatives – including his eldest son – to Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, and is a veteran member of the Islamist group.
Regarded as having good ties with Iran, a vital source of arms and finance for Hamas, he has been closely involved in the group’s efforts to broker several truces with Israel, playing a key role in ending a 2014 conflict and again in attempts to secure an end to the current Gaza war.
Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, Hayya has been part of Hamas since it was set up in 1987.
Mother of Israeli hostage in Gaza fears strikes have ‘sealed his fate’
The distraught mother of an Israeli hostage still held captive in Gaza fears Benjamin Netanyahu’s strike in Doha on Hamas may have effectively “assassinated” her son.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Angrest is one of the few remaining hostages being held in the war-torn enclave, now says he could be executed in retaliation for today’s bombing.
‘I’m shaking with fear. It could be that in these very moments the prime minister has actually assassinated my Matan, sealed his fate,’ she said following the attack in Qatar.
‘Whoever decides to intentionally endanger my Matan’s life is murdering him. Why does he insist on blowing up any chance of a deal? It’s my child’s life, my Matan’s life is hanging in the balance!
‘Over and over and over again the prime minister sabotages the deal. I’m fed up. End this war already and bring everyone back in a comprehensive agreement.’
Breaking:UN chief condemns Israeli strikes on Qatar
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned Israel’s strikes as a ‘flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar’.
He said Qatar has been playing a very positive role to try and achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
‘All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,’ Guterres told reporters.
Saudi Arabia: Israel face’s ‘dire consequences’
Saudi Arabia says it warns of ‘dire consequences’ over Israel’s ‘persistence in criminal violations’.
It’s the latest country to condemn the attack, alongside the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran.
Saudi Arabia condemned the strike in Doha ‘in the strongest terms’, calling it ‘brutal Israeli aggression and the flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the sisterly State of Qatar’.
It also warned of ‘the grave consequences resulting from the Israeli occupation’s persistence in its criminal transgressions and its blatant violation of the principles of international law and all international norms’
Netanyahu watched the Israeli airstrike
Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly viewed the attack live has it took place.
Fears Israel’s strike will harm efforts to free Gaza hostages
Qatar has reportedly claimed Israel’s strike against Hamas’s top terrorist chieftains is ‘complicating’ efforts to bring Israeli hostages back from Gaza.
According to Sky News, a Qatari diplomatic source said: ‘Hamas received the new proposal from us, which we obtained from [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff last week in Paris,” the source said.
‘The prime minister met with them yesterday. They decided to meet again today to discuss the proposal, arriving from Turkey.
‘However, as has happened before, the Israelis undermined hopes for peace, further prolonging the war and complicating efforts to bring back the hostages.’
Iran: Attack is a ‘dangerous violation of international law’
Iran has hit out over Israel’s attack in Qatar today.
The country – which earlier this year launched its own vicious missile bombardment against Israel – has blasted the IDF’s operation against Hamas in Doha.
In comments to Iranian media, Tehran described the attack as a ‘dangerous’ move.
A foreign ministry spokesman condemns the ‘violation to international law’.
Islamic Jihad calls attack a ‘blatant criminal act’
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, condemned Israel’s targeting of its ally’s leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Israel’s ‘targeting of a meeting of leaders of… Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha, is a blatant criminal act that violates all human standards and values, as well as the most basic international laws and norms,’ Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
Who was Israel targeting in the missile strike?
Israel launched its controversial offensive into Qatar – a neutral state – to target key Hamas officials.
It’s believed the top chiefs of the terror group were in Doha as part of peace negotiations.
According to a senior official from the region, those present at the meeting attacked in today were:
Khalil al Hayya (pictured below)
Khaled Mashaal
Muhammad Darwish
Razi Hamad
Izzat al-Rishq
Breaking:Netanyahu: Israel takes full responsibility for strikes
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a statement after the Israeli strikes in Doha.
‘Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,’ it said..
‘Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.’
It comes amid reports in the Israeli media that claimed Donald Trump allegedly ‘gave the green light’ for the strike.
The comment was citied on Israel’s Channel 12 news site.
Israel reveals why it launched attack in Doha
The Israeli Defence Force claimed the Hamas chiefs it targeted were responsible for the organisation’s terrorist operations and October 7 massacre.
Read the IDF’s full statement, below:
US embassy staff in Doha told to shelter-in-place
American officials in Qatar have been told to seek cover following the Israeli attack against Hamas.
In the first official US comment on the raid, the American embassy in Doha confirmed it has seen ‘reports of missile strikes occurring’ in the Qatari capital.
‘The US Embassy has instituted a shelter-in-place order for their facilities,’ the embassy said in a social media post.
It also urged American citizens in Qatar to shelter in place.
Video shows plumes of smoke after explosion
Dramatic video has revealed the aftermath of the Israeli airstrike against Hamas in Qatar.
Leaders for the Gazan terror group were in Doha as part of a peace deligation trying to negotiate a ceasefire.
Footage from the scene appears to show black plumes of smokes raising from the building.
Qatar blasts ‘cowardly’ Israel attack in Doha
Qatar’s foreign ministry has lashed out at an Israeli strike against Hamas in Qatar, branding it ‘cowardly’ and a ‘flagrant violation’ of international law.
In strong words, spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Qatar ‘condemns in the strongest terms’ the attack, which he claimed was carried out on residential buildings housing several members of the Hamas political bureau.
‘This criminal attack constitutes a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms and a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents of Qatar,’ he said in a statement.
‘While strongly condemning this attack, the State of Qatar affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behaviour and its continued tampering with regional security, as well as any action targeting its security and sovereignty. Investigations are under way at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they become available.’
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