Israel attacks Hamas leaders in Qatar, drawing condemnation, as Gazans told to evacuate

Israel launched an airstrike against leaders of its arch foe Hamas in Qatar on Tuesday, expanding military actions that have ranged across the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base.

Qatar, a key security partner of the United States and host to Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military facility in the Middle East, has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war in Gaza.

Qatar condemned Tuesday’s attack as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law. The assault is likely to deal a serious, if not fatal, blow to the ceasefire efforts, especially since negotiations have often taken place in Qatar.

Two Hamas sources told Reuters that Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team survived the attack, which followed an evacuation order in Gaza City, where Israel is waging an offensive to try to destroy the group and its military capabilities in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials said the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders, including Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator. His son was killed in the attack, said two Hamas sources.

On Tuesday night Israel was still gathering information on the strike and had yet to determine whether any Hamas officials or leaders were killed, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.

In Washington, a White House official said Israel had notified the US about the strike beforehand. US President Donald Trump made a high-profile visit to Qatar in May and stayed at a hotel about 2km from Tuesday’s attack site.

The airstrike took place shortly after Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for a shooting on Monday that killed six people at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

The Israeli operation drew strong reactions.

The United Arab Emirates, which normalised relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020, called the Israeli attack on Doha “blatant and cowardly”.

Abu Dhabi was already angry over an Israeli minister’s plan for annexation of land in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying that was a red line that cannot be crossed.

Regional power Saudi Arabia denounced what it called a “brutal Israeli aggression” against Qatar’s sovereignty. Egypt said the attack set a dangerous precedent.

Pope Leo, who typically refrains from speaking off the cuff, expressed unusually forceful concern on Tuesday about the consequences of Israel’s strike in Qatar.

“The entire situation is very serious,” he told journalists outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the attack and said Qatar had been playing a very positive role in seeking a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was “entirely justified” and was ordered after Monday’s Jerusalem attack and the loss of four Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Speaking later in a televised address, he said: “The days are over when terror leaders can enjoy immunity of any kind. I won’t allow that kind of immunity to exist.”

Oil prices rose more than a dollar a barrel after the strike in Qatar.

Gaza City braces for new onslaught

The Israeli military, meanwhile, issued evacuation orders for residents of Gaza City.

Residents of Gaza’s biggest urban area, home to a million Palestinians before the war, have been expecting an onslaught for weeks, since the Israeli government devised a plan to deal Hamas a fatal blow in what it says are the group’s last strongholds.

Anxiety was spreading through a tent area in Gaza City housing displaced cancer patients.

“There’s no place left, not in the south, nor the north, nothing. We’ve become completely trapped,” said Bajess al-Khaldi, a displaced cancer patient, as people looked on at the rubble of several buildings destroyed in an Israeli attack.

International critics say Israel’s Gaza plan, which includes demilitarising the whole Strip as Israel takes security control, could worsen the humanitarian plight of the 2.2 million Palestinians who live there.

The Gaza City assault plan has provoked concern inside Israel, where public support for the war has wavered. Israel’s military leadership has warned Netanyahu against expanding the war, according to Israeli officials.

Families of Israeli hostages fear the attack could endanger the captives. Netanyahu says he is acting out of Israel’s interest by moving to finish off Hamas to safeguard his country against further attacks.

Israel has killed several top Hamas leaders since the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel has also launched airstrikes and other military action in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen in the course of the Gaza conflict. DM