Qatar condemns ‘cowardly’ Israeli attack in Doha

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned “in the strongest terms the cowardly Israeli attack” on a residential building housing Hamas leaders in the capital Doha, calling the assault a “blatant violation of all international laws and norms”.

“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,” ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they become available.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed in a statement that the Israeli military carried out the attack in Doha on Tuesday against Hamas leaders. The attack came as negotiators from Hamas were meeting to consider the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal from the United States.

“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” Netanyahu said in a social media post.

“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”

Explosions were reported in Doha in the first such attack by Israel in Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and home to the region’s largest US military base, Al Udeid Air Base.

Israel’s military released a statement on Tuesday saying it and the Shin Bet intelligence service “carried out a targeted attack on the top leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization”.

Residential area targeted

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Doha, said the area targeted in Doha is full of residential units.

“This is a large residential area containing a lot of foreign embassies. Many civilians live here. There’s a Lebanese school that isn’t far from here, and the echoes of the explosions were heard across the city and farther afield,” he said.

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.

Israel has been bombarding Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria as well as carrying out daily attacks in the occupied West Bank in Palestine. It has killed more than 64,000 people in Gaza since launching its brutal military offensive in October 2023.

Its military actions in Gaza have been termed genocide by numerous rights groups, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.