Hamas claims leaders survived Israeli attack in Doha, but confirms six deaths

US President Donald Trump has stated he is “not thrilled” about Israeli air strike in Qatar, including to the worldwide stress after the unpredecented growth of Israel’s conflict in opposition to Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the strike was “absolutely justified” as a result of it focused senior Hamas leaders who organised the 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, which triggered the Gaza conflict.

The Palestinian armed group has stated 5 of its members have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Qatar’s capital, however claimed that an try to assassinate its negotiating group “failed”.

Qatar condemned the Israeli assault, calling it “cowardly” and a “flagrant violation of worldwide legislation”.

Qatar is a key US ally within the area that’s the location of a significant American air base.

Requested about Israel’s strikes in opposition to Qatar, Trump stated: “Properly, I am not thrilled… I am simply I am not thrilled about the entire state of affairs. It isn’t a superb state of affairs.

“However I’ll say this, we would like the hostages again, however we aren’t thrilled about the way in which that went down in the present day,” he informed the media.

Hamas stated the negotiating group was assembly to debate the newest US proposal for a ceasefire within the Gaza Strip at a residential compound in Doha when it was badly broken by a sequence of explosions.

The Gulf state’s inside ministry stated one member of its Inner Safety Drive was killed and others have been injured, with out mentioning any Hamas casualties.

It has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012, and has served together with the US and Egypt as a mediator in oblique negotiations between the group and Israel.

Witnesses in Doha stated they heard as many as eight separate explosions on Tuesday afternoon, with plumes of smoke rising above the town’s northern Katara district.

The strike hit “residential buildings housing a number of members of the Political Bureau of Hamas”, based on Qatari authorities.

Inside minutes, Israel stated it was behind the blasts.

The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) and Shin Wager inner safety service stated in an announcement that they carried out “a exact strike focusing on the senior management” of Hamas.

Later, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz stated Israeli safety forces had been ordered on Monday to organize for a attainable strike “after the murderous assaults in Jerusalem and Gaza” – a reference to the killing of six Israelis by two Palestinian gunmen at a bus cease in Jerusalem and the killing of 4 Israeli troopers in an assault on a military camp in Gaza Metropolis.

“The prime minister and the defence minister believed that the motion was absolutely justified given the truth that it was this Hamas management that initiated and organised the October 7 bloodbath, and – since then – has not ceased from launching murderous operations in opposition to the State of Israel and its residents,” they added.

Israeli media reported that the operation concerned 15 Israeli fighter jets, firing 10 munitions in opposition to a single goal inside a couple of seconds.

An Israeli official was cited as saying the Hamas members focused included Khalil al-Hayya, the chief negotiator and exiled Gaza chief, and Zaher Jabarin, the exiled West Financial institution chief.

A Hamas assertion denounced the Israeli strike as a “a heinous crime, a blatant aggression, and a flagrant violation of all worldwide norms and legal guidelines”.

“We verify the enemy’s failure to assassinate our brothers within the negotiating delegation,” it stated, with out offering any proof.

The group named 5 members who it stated have been killed, together with Khalil al-Hayya’s son, Humam, and Jihad Labad, the director of Hayya’s workplace.

“Focusing on the negotiating delegation, as they mentioned US President Donald Trump’s newest proposal, confirms past doubt that Netanyahu and his authorities don’t wish to attain any settlement and are intentionally searching for to thwart all alternatives and thwart worldwide efforts,” it stated.

Hamas additionally stated it held the US administration “collectively accountable” for the assault due to its help for the Israeli army.

The White Home stated it was notified by the US army that Israel was attacking Hamas.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and shut ally of the US that’s working very onerous and bravely taking dangers with us to dealer peace doesn’t advance Israel or America’s objectives,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters. “Nevertheless, eliminating Hamas, who’ve profited off the distress of these dwelling in Gaza, is a worthy purpose.”

She added: “President Trump instantly directed particular envoy Steve Witkoff to tell the Qataris of the upcoming assault, which he did.”

Afterwards, Trump spoke to Israel’s prime minister, who informed him that “he desires to make peace and shortly”, based on Leavitt.

The president additionally spoke to the emir and prime minister of Qatar and “assured them that such a factor won’t occur once more on their soil”, she added.

The Israeli prime minister’s workplace earlier pressured that it was a “an entirely unbiased Israeli operation”. “Israel initiated it, Israel carried out it, and Israel takes full accountability,” it stated.

Qatar’s authorities reacted with fury to Israel’s actions, saying: “This legal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all worldwide legal guidelines and norms, and poses a critical risk to the safety and security of Qataris and residents in Qatar.”

Related statements of concern got here from throughout the Arab world, with Saudi Arabia denouncing what it described because the “brutal Israeli aggression”.

UN Secretary Basic António Guterres additionally condemned the strike, saying it was a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”.

He stated Qatar had been “enjoying a really optimistic function to realize a ceasefire and launch of all hostages”, including: “All events should work in direction of attaining a everlasting ceasefire, not destroying it.”

French President Emmanuel Macron stated the strike was “unacceptable no matter motive”, whereas UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned of the chance of “additional escalation throughout the area” and referred to as for a ceasefire in Gaza and the discharge of hostages.

Pope Leo XIV informed journalists that “the whole state of affairs could be very critical”.

For the households of the 48 hostages nonetheless being held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, the information triggered a recent wave of determined nervousness.

“I’m shaking with worry,” Einav Zangauker, whose son, Matan, is amongst these in captivity, wrote on X.

“It could possibly be that in these very moments the prime minister has truly assassinated my Matan. Why does he insist on blowing up any probability of a deal?”

Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid stated he shared the households’ issues.

“Hamas members deserve demise,” he posted, “however at this level the Israeli authorities wants to clarify how the IDF’s motion won’t result in the killing of the hostages, and whether or not the chance to the hostages lives was taken into consideration.”

On Monday, Katz had warned Hamas leaders dwelling overseas that they’d be “annihilated” and Gaza “destroyed” if the group didn’t launch its hostages and lay down its arms.

His remarks got here a day after Hamas stated its negotiating group was speaking with mediators in regards to the newest US proposal for a ceasefire and hostage launch deal.

Trump stated on the time that Israel had accepted his phrases, with out giving any particulars, and gave Hamas what he referred to as a “final warning” to just accept it too.

A Palestinian official informed the BBC the US plan would see the hostages freed within the first 48 hours of a 60-day truce in alternate for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and good-faith negotiations on a everlasting ceasefire.

Chatting with an viewers on the US embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu stated the Israel’s motion in Qatar might “open the door to an finish of the conflict”.

He confirmed that Israel had accepted the US plan and urged the individuals of Gaza to observe swimsuit, saying: “Arise on your rights and on your future. Make peace with us.”

Israel has killed many high Hamas leaders over the previous 23 months.

The group’s exiled political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by an explosion at a guesthouse throughout a go to to Iran in July 2024.

Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the 7 October assault and succeeded Haniyeh, was killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza in October 2024.

The Israeli army launched a marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 individuals have been killed and 251 others have been taken hostage.

A minimum of 64,605 individuals have been killed in Israeli assaults in Gaza since then, based on the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.