Israel says it has targeted Hamas “senior leadership” in a strike in Qatar, expanding its military actions to a new front.<\/p>\n
Shortly before the announcement, explosions were reported in the Qatari capital Doha \u2014 where Hamas leaders have been based.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and intelligence agency Shin Bet said those targeted had were “directly responsible for the brutal October 7th massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smoke rises after several blasts were heard in Doha, Qatar, September 9, 2025. (Reuters: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)<\/p>\n
Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, was reportedly one of the targets.<\/p>\n
AlJazeera News reported the strike came while the leadership had been meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, which Qatar and Egypt had been mediating.<\/p>\n
Reuters cited two Hamas sources saying Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team, headed by al-Hayya, survived the attack.<\/p>\n
Israeli media reported that Israeli authorities estimate that the targets attacked were “significantly damaged and may have been\u00a0eliminated”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It reported a senior Israeli official said the United States was told of its plan to strike and that President Donald Trump gave the green light.<\/p>\n
The office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel claimed full responsibility for the operation.<\/p>\n
“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”<\/p>\n
Several blasts were heard in Doha, Qatar.\u00a0 (Reuters: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)<\/p>\n
Qatar has condemned the strike which it called a flagrant violation of international law, and said investigations at the highest levels were being conducted.<\/p>\n
“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha,” spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry Dr Majed Al Ansari said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.”<\/p>\n
“[Qatar] will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior [sic] and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.”<\/p>\n
“Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they are available.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smoke rises after several blasts were heard in Doha, Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The diplomatic advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates said the country stands with Qatar and condemned the “treacherous” attack.<\/p>\n
Iran too has condemned the attack as “dangerous” and a violation of international law, according to Iranian media.<\/p>\n
The US embassy in Doha has issued a shelter in place order for its citizens.<\/p>\n
Explosions were reported in the Katara District of Doha.<\/p>\n
Plumes of black smoke were billowing from the city’s Legtifya petrol station. Right next door to the petrol station is a small residential compound that has been guarded by Qatar\u2019s emiri guard 24 hours a day since the beginning of the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n
Ambulances and at least 15 police and unmarked government cars thronged the streets around the blast site an hour after the strike.<\/p>\n
ABC\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel says it has targeted Hamas “senior leadership” in a strike in Qatar, expanding its military actions to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[65369,13043,43,6897,90653,12241,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-130461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-doha","tag-hamas","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}