According to a television in Qatar’s Al Jazeera, the attack targeted Hamas Gaza ceasefire negotiators and cited Hamas sources.
Israel attacks Hamas senior leadership in Qatar
Officials said Israeli missiles were housing the construction of Doha homes “several members of Hamas Politburo.”
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- “Israel has started it, Israel has implemented it, and Israel is fully responsible,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
- Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the attack a “criminal attack.”
- Israeli loved ones were “tracking the development of Doha with deep concern and intense anxiety,” the Hostages and Missing Family Forum said of the attack that was held hostage in Hamas on October 7, 2023.
- Qatar was key to negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire and the return of the remaining 48 hostages.
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is “fully responsible” for the unprecedented airstrikes of Hamas leaders in Qatar.
“Today’s actions against Hamas’ top terrorist chiefs were a completely independent Israeli operation,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on September 9th.
Israel launched an attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha on September 9th. The strike is an expansion of military action that is reaching the Middle East, including the Gulf Arab state, where Palestinian Muslim groups have long been politically based.
Reuters and Al Jazeera reported that Hamas negotiators, which were Israeli targets, survived, citing Hamas sources. Air sirens mourned in Jerusalem around 8pm local time as the troops reported temporarily hiding incoming rocket attacks from Yemen and their residents.
White House condemns Qatar’s attack
The White House scolded Israel in attacks on US allies.
“To unilaterally bombard the nation, a sovereign nation and close US ally, Qatar, is working hard with us to take risks bravely and peacefully, and will not advance the goals of Israel or America.” “However, it is a valuable goal to eliminate Hamas, who benefited from the misery of those living in Gaza.”
Leavitt told reporters that the White House learned of the pentagonal attack “just before,” and President Donald Trump later spoke with Netanyahu. She said the US military was notified “just before the attack” but did not respond when asked by whom.
“The Trump administration has been notified by the US troops that Israel was attacking Hamas. Hamas was, very unfortunately, located in part of Qatar’s capital, Doha,” Leavitt said.
Responding to the fatal shooting of Jerusalem
In a joint statement with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu said the strike was approved after six Israelis were shot dead by Palestinian gunmen outside Jerusalem on September 8th.
The Israeli family was taken hostage by Hamas in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. “We are following Doha’s development with deep concern and intense anxiety,” the Hostages and Missing Family Forum said in a statement. “Now, the serious fear depends on the prices that the hostages may pay.”
Sherry Tal Mellon, an opposition lawmaker from Israel, also expressed concern about the hostages.
“The Israeli intelligence report and security forces will reach anyone who tries to hurt us wherever they hide,” she told USA Today. “At the same time, it is important to remember that, more than all the achievements, Israel’s highest obligation is to the 48 hostages still in Gaza, 704 days later.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that Israel’s “criminal attacks” are “a blatant violation of all international laws and norms and poses a serious threat to the safety and security of Kataris and Qatar’s residents.”
“I won’t go back”
Qatar’s Gulf Emirates have played a key role in negotiating the Gaza War, which killed 60,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis.
Yakov Amidler, former Netanyahu national security adviser, told USA Today that Doha’s strikes reflected the “new Middle East” since October 7th. “Hamas has an obligation to destroy all the remains wherever you are.”
“We’re not going back to what was before,” he said.
It was unclear whether or how ceasefire negotiations would continue after Israel’s attack on one of the main sponsors of the speech.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the strike as “a serious violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
He said Qatar is playing a positive role in speaking out for the ceasefire and hostage release. “All actors need to work to achieve a permanent ceasefire rather than destroy it,” Guterres told reporters.
Pope Leo expresses concern
Pope Leo, who normally refrains from speaking from the cuff, has expressed unusually strong concern about the outcome of Israeli strikes in Qatar.
“There’s really serious news right now. Israeli attacks on the leader of Hamas in Qatar,” the Pope told journalists outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in southern Rome.
“The whole situation is very serious,” Leo said. “We don’t know how things go. It’s really serious.”
However, Israel’s UN ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, defended the attack.
“The exact strike in Doha targeted the senior Hamas leaders who planned the October 7 massacre and celebrated while citizens were accused,” he wrote to X. Citing Hamas’ sources, Qatar’s Al Jazeera Television said the attack targeted ceasefire negotiators in Hamas Gaza.
Several explosions were heard in Doha, an eyewitness said.
A plume of black smoke swirling from the city’s Legtifia gas station. Next to the station is a small residential lot that has been patrolled by Qatar’s elite Amirigaard 24 hours a day since the Gaza conflict began.
Israeli media cited high Israeli officials, saying the attack was targeted at Hamas’ top leaders, including its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya.
Israeli military encourages full evacuation of Gaza city
Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza city to evacuate after warning Hamas to intensify military attacks if they do not release the last hostages.
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Contribution: Reuters; Joey Garrison, USA Today
