Israel’s military said it conducted a strike targeting senior Hamas leaders today, as Qatar condemned an attack on buildings housing members of the Palestinian militant movement in the capital.
Qatar said Israeli strikes 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.
A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP the group’s negotiators had been “targeted” in Doha.
A video journalist working with AFP in Doha saw a plume of smoke rising from behind a low-rise building.
“For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organisation’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal Oct 7 (2023) massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
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.
Tuesday’s strikes come less than two weeks after Israel’s armed forces chief vowed to targed the group’s leaders based abroad.
“Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,” Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on Aug 31.
‘Gross violation’
Along with the US and Egypt, Qatar has led multiple rounds of efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by the Palestinian militants’ unprecedented Oct 7, 2023 attack.
Despite sealing two temporary truces, the successive rounds of talks have failed to bring a lasting end to the war.
“May all your enemies perish, Israel,” Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar wrote on X today.
“US citizens are advised to shelter-in-place and monitor @USEmbassyDoha social media for updates,” the US embassy posted on X.
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”.
The attack came as Israel stepped up a deadly assault on Gaza City, the Palestinian territory’s largest urban centre.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement addressing residents of the city: “I say to the residents: you have been warned, leave now!
“All of this is just a prelude, just the opening, to the main intensified operation — the ground manoeuvre of our forces, who are now organising and assembling to enter Gaza City,” he said.
