The Israeli military says explosions seen and heard in the Qatari capital, Doha, are the result of an assassination attempt against Hamas leaders.
Tuesday’s attack is the first by Israel in Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and home to the region’s largest United States military base, Al Udeid Air Base.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria as well as carrying out daily attacks in the occupied West Bank in Palestine.
A Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the attack in Doha targeted the Hamas negotiating team. The attack came as the negotiators were meeting to consider the latest ceasefire proposal put forth by the US.
The Israeli military released a statement saying it and the Shin Bet intelligence service “recently carried out a targeted attack on the top leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization”.
“The members of the leadership who were attacked led the terrorist organization’s activities for years, and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and waging the war against the State of Israel”, it added, referring to the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The statement said that before the attack, “steps were taken to minimize harm to uninvolved people, including the use of precision weapons and additional intelligence information.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a statement, saying the action “against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation”.
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” said the statement.
Israel has assassinated many of Hamas’s top military and political leaders in the last two years, such as top political leader Yahya Sinwar; military commander Mohammed Deif, one of the founders of the Qassam Brigades in the 1990s; and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Qatar condemns ‘criminal attack’
In a statement, Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the country “condemns in the strongest terms” the attack, which he said 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,” the statement said.
“While strongly condemning this attack, the State of Qatar affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and its continued tampering with regional security, as well as any action targeting its security and sovereignty. Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they become available.”
Qatar’s Interior Ministry said in a later statement that that situation in Doha was safe, and specialised teams were working at the scene of the strike.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also 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 captives held by Hamas.
“All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” he said.
All of the key Gulf states and several other Arab nations have also issued strong statements condemning the attack.
Residential area targeted
Speaking from Doha, where police have cordoned off the area surrounding the attack, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said the strike was a shocking development in Qatar, which was known as a safe and secure country.
The strike had occurred in a quiet, residential neighbourhood with many foreign embassies.
“Qatar is known around the world for the level of security that people here enjoy,” he said.
“The explosions were heard ringing out across the city… There are a lot of very nervous, very worried people across this country as we speak.”
Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Suhaib Al-Assa said security officials have said their priority was to secure the scene and locate damage and casualties.
“The security procedures are very complex because we are talking about an extremely sensitive site – a site that is very close to residential buildings and people’s homes,” he said.
Sultan Barakat, a professor at Doha’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said he was eating lunch when he heard the blasts.
He told Al Jazeera that the latest strikes would further entrench Israel’s reputation as an international pariah state that was acting outside international norms.
“It is acting more as … an aircraft carrier,” he said. “The way it is resolving its problems is very far from what you’d expect from a proper state.”
He said while the US has not commented on the strikes yet, it would have to account for the actions of its ally.
“The US sponsors Israel, they must own up to this responsibility and explain what is going on.”
The White House has not yet issued a statement on the attack. US President Donald Trump delivered an ultimatum over the weekend to Hamas on social media, saying that the Israelis had accepted what he called “his terms” for a ceasefire, and that it was time for Hamas to accept as well.
‘Emboldened’ by Gaza genocide
The strikes in Doha come less than two weeks after Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir pledged to target Hamas leaders wherever they were in the world following a situation assessment meeting with his top commanders.
“Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,” Zamir said on August 31.
Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said from Doha that the unprecedented attack on the city, which has hosted negotiations for a potential ceasefire in Gaza, reflected how “emboldened” Israel has become “by being able to carry out a genocide and getting away with it”.
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the strike in a third country was similar to Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran last year.
The Israeli claims that it took measures to mitigate civilian harm should be taken with a grain of salt, she said, given how many civilians in the Gaza Strip have been killed over the past two years.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said the attack was “not just shocking” but a “disgusting, mafia-type action”, as it targeted diplomatic efforts.
Source: Aljazeera
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