The Palestinian armed group Hamas has said five of its members were killed in an Israeli air strike in Qatar’s capital, but claimed that an attempt to assassinate its negotiating team “failed”.
Hamas said the negotiating team was meeting to discuss the latest US proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at a residential compound in Doha when it was badly damaged by a series of explosions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike was “fully justified” because it targeted senior Hamas leaders who organised the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war.
Qatar condemned the Israeli attack, calling it “cowardly” and a “flagrant violation of international law”.
The Gulf state’s interior ministry said one member of its Internal Security Force was killed and others were injured, without mentioning any Hamas casualties.
The White House said US President Donald Trump believed the incident was “unfortunate” but that eliminating Hamas was “a worthy goal”.
Qatar is a key US ally in the region that is the location of a major American air base.
It has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012, and has served along with the US and Egypt as a mediator in indirect negotiations between the group and Israel.
Witnesses in Doha said they heard as many as eight separate explosions on Tuesday afternoon, with plumes of smoke rising above the city’s northern Katara district.
The strike hit “residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas”, according to Qatari authorities.
Within minutes, Israel said it was behind the blasts.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet internal security service said in a statement that they conducted “a precise strike targeting the senior leadership” of Hamas.
Later, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli security forces had been ordered on Monday to prepare for a possible strike “after the murderous attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza” – a reference to the killing of six Israelis by two Palestinian gunmen at a bus stop in Jerusalem and the killing of four Israeli soldiers in an attack on an army camp in Gaza City.
“The prime minister and the defence minister believed that the action was fully justified given the fact that it was this Hamas leadership that initiated and organised the October 7 massacre, and – since then – has not ceased from launching murderous operations against the State of Israel and its citizens,” they added.
Israeli media reported that the operation involved 15 Israeli fighter jets, firing 10 munitions against a single target within a few seconds.