Israeli forces carried out a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Tuesday afternoon.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it conducted “a precise strike,” adding that prior to it, “measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence.”
The IDF did not say who the target was or whether it had confirmation that the target was killed in the strike. It’s unclear if there were any civilian casualties as well.
“The leadership members who were attacked had led the terrorist organization’s activities for years and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement, implicitly referencing the group’s leaders who live in the Gulf country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the operation was “a wholly independent Israeli operation.”
Israel gave President Donald Trump and his national security team “advance notice” of the airstrike but did not say if Israel asked Trump to sign off on the operation, a senior White House official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The strike marks the first time since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that Israel has conducted strikes in Qatar, which houses Hamas’s leadership outside the Gaza Strip.
An adviser to the Qatari prime minister and spokesman for foreign affairs said on X: “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. 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.”
Qatar has been one of three primary mediators for Israel and Hamas, alongside Egypt and the United States.
Israel has decimated Hamas’s leadership infrastructure and killed thousands of terrorists during the nearly two years of war that has also led to catastrophic levels of hunger, the devastation of the strip, and accusations of genocide, which Israeli officials vehemently deny.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the attack on Doha “fairly extraordinary” during an event with the Institute of World Politics and NOTUS on Tuesday.
Outside Gaza, Israel targeted Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, in July 2024. He was one of the officials who lived in Qatar but was targeted when he traveled to Iran.
Israel is preparing for a wide-scale invasion of Gaza City, one of the last remaining areas of the strip it does not control. It ordered an evacuation of the area on Tuesday.
ISRAEL ORDERS IMMEDIATE EVACUATION AHEAD OF ‘GREAT FORCE’ IN GAZA CITY
Trump, who has largely supported Netanyahu’s war strategy, said Israel agreed to a deal to end the war and called on Hamas to do the same. But it’s unclear if this agreement will get over the finish line because many of the previous proposals agreed to by one side have been rejected by the other party.
Trump has said he wants to see a deal get done to end the war, return the roughly 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, and start postwar Gaza reconstruction. In his latest warning to Hamas about agreeing to a deal to end the conflict, Trump said, “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
Christian Datoc contributed to this report.
