This frame grab taken from an AFPTV footage shows a man looking at smoke billowing after explosions in Qatar's capital Doha. Photo / Jacqueline Penney, AFP
An airstrike by Israel which targeted senior members of Hamas’ leadership today in Qatar, is a sharp escalation that brought the Mideast war to a country that is a close United States ally and a primary mediator in trying to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said Israel had failed to kill senior officials in the group, without specifying whether they had sustained injuries.
In a statement, the group confirmed that the son of Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ chief negotiator; his office manager; and three other people affiliated with Hamas had been killed in the attack.
The strike also killed a member of Qatar’s internal security forces and injured a number of civilians, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
The United States role
The White House gave contradictory information about whether the US knew in advance of the Israeli strike.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US military had notified the Trump Administration “as Israel was attacking Hamas”. She also appeared to indicate that the US knew ahead of time, saying President Donald Trump had directed his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to inform the Qataris of the “impending attack”.
Later, when asked to clarify her statements, she said the Trump Administration had been notified by the US military that Israel was attacking Hamas.
“The President directed the special envoy Witkoff to immediately call the Qataris,” she said, adding that after the attack the Trump had spoken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
The US and Qatar
Leavitt also said the President viewed Qatar as a strong US ally and friend and regretted the location of the attack, even while stating that destroying Hamas was a “worthy” goal.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said the country had not received a US warning before the strike.
“The statements being circulated about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are baseless,” he said.
“The call from a US official came during the sound of explosions caused by the Israeli attack in Doha.”
Qatar confirmed that Emir Tamim bin Hamad had received a call from Trump.
During the call, the Emir said: “Qatar will take all necessary measures to protect its security and preserve its sovereignty and will continue its constructive approach in standing with brothers and friends and supporting just humanitarian causes in a way that consolidates the pillars of international peace and security”.
The impact of the strike on Qatar
The direct attack on Qatar’s territory risked antagonising its government and destabilising its considerable diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The country’s political and economic stability hinges on its reputation as a haven for business and tourism in a volatile region.
It occurred in the afternoon local time and hit an area of the capital, Doha, that is near schools and foreign embassies, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
Al-Ansari condemned the attack, which he said had targeted a residential headquarters where a number of senior Hamas politicians lived. The strike was carried out by Israel’s Air Force.
“This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar,” he said.
Israel’s attitude to targeting Hamas
Israeli officials have vowed to kill Hamas leaders who were involved in the planning of the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the war in Gaza.
A week ago, Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of the staff, suggested that Israel was focused on attacking Hamas not only in Gaza, but also its officials in the broader region.
“We are operating across the entire Middle East,” he told reserve soldiers.
“Hamas will have no place to hide from us. Wherever we locate them, whether they are senior or junior figures — we strike them all, all the time.”
The impact on the Gaza talks
Hamas representatives met yesterday with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, to discuss Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a Qatari official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The group had planned to convene today to further talk about the proposal, the official said.
In its statement, Hamas said officials were discussing Trump’s proposal when they came under attack.
“The cowardly assassination attempt will not change our clear positions and demands,” Hamas said.
Hamas has called for an end to the war in Gaza, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, the unfettered entry of aid, and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has said Israel was willing to end the war but only if Hamas releases all the remaining hostages, disarms and Gaza is demilitarised — conditions that Hamas has publicly opposed.
In May, Israel Katz, Israel’s Defence Minister, specifically threatened al-Hayya, the chief negotiator, who is often in Qatar.
The US and Israel
Israel appeared to try to distance the US from the attack by saying it was a “wholly independent Israeli operation”.
Thousands of US soldiers are stationed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
And Qatar agreed to host an office for Hamas at the request of the US, Qatari officials have said in the past.
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted, and Israel takes full responsibility,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu and Katz were present at a command centre of the Shin Bet, an Israeli intelligence service that tracks Hamas, during the strike in Qatar, the Shin Bet said in statement.
The building hit by the airstrike had been identified by Israel as a site where Hamas leadership often meets, according to two Israel officials with knowledge of the matter. The site, they said, had been code-named “Judgment Day”.
Possible fallout from the strike
Qatar was thought to be neutral ground, in part because it maintains contacts with the Israeli Government.
Senior Israeli government officials have travelled to the emirate many times to talk to Qatari leaders about securing the release of hostages in Gaza.
“I can’t imagine how Qatar will continue being a mediator after this,” said Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research institution.
“The whole structure we’ve been dealing with since the October 7 attacks — the whole diplomatic structure — has just collapsed.”
The willingness to attack Qatar’s capital could also undermine Israel’s long-standing efforts to build ties with Gulf Arab nations that it views as potential allies against Iran.
That diplomatic undertaking had already been strained by Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
“This reinforces the growing sense in the region that Israel is becoming a destabilising actor,” al-Omari said.
The strike made Qatar — and other Gulf countries, by proxy — appear vulnerable to external attacks, despite the fact that the emirate has invested billions of dollars in American defence equipment and hosts a major US military presence.
Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar was attacked by Iran in June, though the strike was largely thwarted by US defence systems.
“Troubled time for the Gulf, but the biggest loser is the US,” said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University.
Despite being Israel’s most important foreign ally and military supplier, the US appears to be either unwilling or unable to rein in Israel’s offensives across the region, and that is undermining its credibility as a security guarantor in the Gulf, he said.
Reaction to Israel’s attack
The Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia issued a statement calling on the international community to “put a stop to Israel’s violations”.
The United Arab Emirates, which led a push for Arab states to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020, swiftly condemned the strike.
Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called it a “treacherous” attack, saying in a social media post that the security of the various Gulf states was “indivisible”.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, issued a statement calling Israel’s strike “an irresponsible escalation that threatens regional and international security”.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned what he called a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”.
“All parties must work toward achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Adam Rasgon, Vivian Nereim and Ronen Bergman
Photographs by: XXX
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