President Trump has told the Emir of Qatar that his country is safe from further Israeli attacks as the White House described the country as a “close ally”.
He spoke to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani after Israel tried to assassinate Hamas leaders in Doha, the Qatari capital.
According to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, the US president had assured the Emir “that such a thing will not happen again on their soil”.
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, of Qatar, welcomes President Trump to Doha in May this year
ALEX BRANDON/AP
US disputes Israeli claim
The White House has cast doubt on Israel’s claims that it had warned President Trump about the strikes on Qatar.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump had been notified “by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas”.
“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” she said. “However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”
Trump condemns attack on ‘US ally’
President Trump has condemned Israel’s attack on Qatar in a call with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said attacking a “close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals”.
“The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the United States, and feels very badly about the location of this attack,” she said.
Six people killed, Hamas says in statement
In its first official statement following the strikes in Doha, Hamas asserted that the Israeli attack had been intended to derail negotiations for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
The terrorist group confirmed that its senior leaders had survived the assassination attempt, but noted that six people had been killed, including the son of the Hamas chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, one of his aides and a Qatari security officer.
Hamas stated: “This once again exposes the criminal nature of the occupation and its intent to thwart any opportunities for reaching an agreement.”
Hamas members killed, group confirms
Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, claimed that Israel’s attempt to assassinate Khalil al-Hayya and other militants discussing Trump’s ceasefire proposal had failed.
However, he said the attack had resulted in the death of al-Hayya’s son, Humam, and one of his senior aides, and that communication with three other bodyguards has been lost.
Al-Hindi called for concrete action against Israel to halt its attacks on Palestinians, insisting that “condemnations and statements are insufficient”.
He added: “The free world must denounce this heinous act, the attempt to assassinate those engaged in discussions to end the war in Gaza.”
UK Palestine activists out in force
In London hundreds of Pro-Palestine protesters have gathered opposite Downing Street to protest President Herzog’s visit to the UK.
One activist had a sign that read: “Isaac Herzog genocide defender not welcome here!”
Protesters also waved Palestinian flags, with some chanting: “Say it loud, say it clear, Isaac is not welcome here” and “Keir Starmer shame on you, David Lammy shame on you”.
Qatari corporal was killed
Qatar’s interior ministry said a member of its internal security forces had been killed in the Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday.
“According to preliminary information, the attack resulted in the martyrdom of Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya),” a statement said.
Other security personnel were also wounded, the statement added.
Netanyahu: War could end right now
The Israeli prime minister said that the Gaza war could end immediately if Hamas were to agree to a truce proposal put forward by Trump, which would begin with the release of Israeli hostages.
Trump announced on Sunday that he had put forward a proposal to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza, but the White House has not released any details about it.
In a speech at the US embassy, Netanyahu said “the days are over when terror leaders will enjoy immunity in a particular place” after the strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
“Our enemies must know one thing — since the creation of Israel, the blood of Jews is not cheap!”
‘Surgical, precision strike’ was response to bus knifing
Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said he authorised the attack on the Hamas chiefs after the group took credit for killing six people at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday, as well as for the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
“At noon I convened the heads of Israel’s security organisations and authorised a surgical precision strike on the terrorist chiefs of Hamas,” Netanyahu said during his speech at the US embassy in Israel at an Independence Day event.
“These are the same terrorists who planned, launched and celebrated the horrific massacres of October 7th.”
Netanyahu said the Hamas leaders in Doha were meeting in “the same place, exactly the same place, where they celebrated this savagery almost two years ago”.
He added that Israel has fulfilled its promise to reach those who perpetrated the attacks of October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people died.
Hamas ‘preparing new offensive’
Israeli sources have told The Times that Hamas, while outwardly appearing busy with negotiations over a ceasefire deal, was plotting with the Houthi rebels in Yemen to strike western ships in the Red Sea in an effort to put pressure on Israel to stop the war.
In addition, Hamas was “creating new vectors” for a major cross-border attack on Israel.
The source did not specify which direction the attack would come from, but it was not from Gaza. Israel shares borders with Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Hamas continues to raise funds for operations against Israel, the source claimed.
America was informed of the strike ahead of time, according to Israeli sources who spoke to The Times, with President Trump giving his final warning to Hamas to release the hostages only days ago.
The conditions on the table are now for a full deal, including a release of living and dead hostages and a complete disarmament by the terrorists, or the IDF will push ahead with a full offensive in Gaza City.
Hamas heads are ‘ongoing targets’
The Hamas leadership in Doha had been “ongoing targets” for Israel since October 7, according to diplomatic sources briefed by Israeli officials.
The decision to strike was made in the past few days, after intelligence had been gathered.
It was then up to the defence establishment to prepare the correct fighter jets and munitions to hit their targets, the officials said.
Attacks not helpful, says UK minister
Karin Smyth, a UK government minister, has said that Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar was “not helpful” towards efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and free the hostages held there.
The hospitals minister told Times Radio: “The situation in Israel/Gaza continues to be completely intolerable. And at the end of the day, we’re only going to have a political solution to this so we do want restraint on this sort of activity.
“It is intolerable, the situation that we are seeing and some of the conversations about Gaza that are coming out of Israel and as Keir Starmer has been clear about, and with David Lammy and now Yvette Cooper, this has to be a political solution. We want to continue to support and find that solution, a two-state solution in the area. And these sorts of incidents are not helpful. We need to get the hostages back.”
Starmer will still meet Herzhog
Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with President Herzog of Israel will go ahead, Downing Street has confirmed.
But the British government warned against an escalation in violence after the IDF’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
The prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “You’ll appreciate these are emerging reports. We are monitoring those as more details emerge.
“We’ve been clear that Hamas are a vile terrorist organisation responsible for an abhorrent attack on Israel on October 7, but we do not want to see a further escalation in violence which risks further destabilisation in the region.
“Our overarching priority is to see an end to the horrific suffering in Gaza, starting with an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid, leading to … peace for Israelis and Palestinians, peace in the wider region.”
No 10 denied having prior knowledge of the attack, saying it was “an Israeli-led operation” and “an entirely independent operation”.
Target survived poisoning attempt
Also targeted in the strike was Khaled Meshaal, the former political head of Hamas, who was also living in Qatar.
He survived an attempted poisoning by Israel in 1997, which caused a diplomatic incident with Jordan.
Meshaal was succeeded as the Hamas leader by Ismail Haniyeh in 2017, but has stepped in as acting leader on more than one occasion.
Hamas deputy was in the building
The deputy leader of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk, was also reportedly in the buildings hit by the air strike. He had co-founded and led the group before his arrest in 1995 in the US, where he was a permanent resident.
After his release, he took a back seat to Khaled Meshaal and then later represented Hamas in Egypt, where he often held court with journalists and became one of the main spokesmen for the group. He then relocated with much of the Hamas leadership to Qatar.
In an interview with The Times last year, Abu Marzouk showed no remorse for the October 7 attack, which led to a war that has since destroyed much of Gaza.
Haniyeh’s successor was No 1 target
The main target of Israel’s strike in Qatar appears to have been Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas leader who was meant to replace his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel last year in Tehran.
Hamas, however, chose Yahya Sinwar after Haniyeh’s assassination, and after Sinwar’s own death in Gaza the leadership fell to a council, effectively led by Haya. His official title was deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, but Haya had emerged as lead negotiator to broker ceasefires with Israel, as well as negotiations with Hamas’s political rivals in Fatah.
Haya had also been entrusted with another role: rallying support for Hamas’s October 7 attack from the group’s allies in Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah before it took place, according to documents released by Israel. It was unclear if he was successful, as the US said that Iran had no foreknowledge of the attack. However, that he was entrusted with the task showed his status within the group.
Aoun: Israel destabilising the region
Lebanon has said Israel’s attack on Doha is an attempt to further destabilise the Middle East.
Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, said the Israeli strikes were “part of a series of attacks committed by Israel, demonstrating its insistence on undermining all efforts made to achieve stability and security in the countries of the region and the safety of its people”.
Since a ceasefire nominally put an end to the latest war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in November, Israel has continued to launch near-daily strikes on Lebanon.
Aoun urged “the international community to put an end to these Israeli practices that continue to violate all international laws and agreements and obstruct every commendable effort made by the state of Qatar to establish peace in the region and put an end to the suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people”.
President Aoun said Israel was undermining Middle East peace
HASSAN AMMAR/AP
‘Plumes of smoke rising’
Taher Omar Sheikh, a Doha resident, has told The Times that he witnessed three blasts.
He said: “When I was passing by the Legtaifya petrol station in Doha, I heard three loud explosions and decided to stop for a moment.
“I then noticed people fleeing from the nearby residential area terrified and confused. The sounds of ambulances and police sirens echoed through the streets close to the blasts.
“Even from where I stopped my car, for the second time, to see what happened, I could see plumes of smoke rising from the distance, while a convoy of police vehicles sped toward the blast site.”
Qatar is ‘state sponsor of terror’
A former IDF spokesman has said that Qatar is “a state sponsor of terrorism”.
Jonathan Conricus told Times Radio: “These people who Israel targeted are Hamas leaders. And I think that should be the number one issue.
“Now yes, I agree there is an issue here of Israel conducting an attack on the soil of another sovereign country. That is an issue. But when I weigh the two, the importance of the Hamas leadership, what they have planned and their role in planning and executing and funding and arming Hamas for the October 7, [and what] they have been doing since, which is prolonging the war and refusing to hand over the hostages and end the war.
“Yes, I would think that this not only is a justified action, but I hope that it is an action that will send a message to Hamas that time is up and that they need to hand over the hostages and end the war.”
Video shows aftermath of strikeHostages ‘must not pay the price’
Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza said their loved ones may pay the price for the attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, reacting to the strike with “deep concern” and “heavy anxiety”.
“A grave fear now hangs over the price that the hostages may pay,” the hostage families’ forum, an umbrella group representing the relatives of hostages and freed captives said.
They said that they knew from the freed hostages’ testimonies that Hamas directed “brutal” revenge at their captives at times of attack.”
“The chance of bringing them back now faces greater uncertainty than ever before, with one thing of absolute certainty — their time is running out. The price for the 48 hostages could be unbearable. The living hostages could be murdered at any moment and the deceased could disappear forever,” the group said.
Israel releases statement
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Israel Katz, the defence minister, have released a joint statement:
“Yesterday, after the murderous attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed all security agencies to prepare for the possibility of thwarting the leaders of Hamas. The defence minister fully supported this proposal.
“This afternoon, in light of an operational opportunity, and in consultation with all heads of the defence establishment and with full backing, the prime minister and the defence minister decided to implement the instruction given last night to the IDF and the Shin Bet, which did so in a precise and optimal manner.
“The prime minister and the defence minister believed that the action was completely justified in light of the fact that this Hamas leadership was the one who initiated and organised the October 7 massacre, and has not stopped launching murderous actions against the State of Israel and its citizens since then, including taking responsibility for the murder of our citizens in yesterday’s attack in Jerusalem.
Hamas ‘must be eradicated’: US
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, said Israel had “enemies encamped around them and they’re trying to bring peace”.
Johnson, who visited Israel in August, told reporters he had not yet seen news of the strike and would reserve judgment. However, he said of Israel: “It’s a very dangerous time there and they have enemies encamped around them, and they’re trying to bring that to a peace as well,” he said.
Hamas must be eradicated, Johnson said, adding. “You’ve got to remove that threat on the immediate border frankly within the bounds of Israel.”
Trump’s team ‘told of attack’
President Trump’s administration was notified immediately before the Israeli attack on Qatar, America has said.
A US official told Axios that “the Trump administration was only notified immediately before the Israeli attack began”.
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Pope Leo says strikes are ‘serious’
Pope Leo has expressed concern for the consequences of Israel’s strikes on Qatar.
“There’s some really serious news right now: Israel’s attack on some Hamas leaders in Qatar. The entire situation is very serious,” the pontiff said outside the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo.
Strike was brutal, says Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has condemned the Israeli attack on Doha as brutal.
Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, has spoken to the Qatari emir offering the kingdom’s support to deploy all capabilities to assist its neighbour, the Saudi state news agency said.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has condemned the attack. Qatar’s sole land border is with the kingdom
SHUTTERSTOCK
Iran, a key backer of Hamas, condemned the attack as a “gross violation of all international rules and regulations, a violation of Qatar’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an attack on Palestinian negotiators”.
Hamas leaders were at the scene
Arab media reports say Hamas’s top leaders were all in the building when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
But the Hamas negotiating team survived the apparent assassination bid, according to Al Jazeera. The broadcaster said the team, led by Khalil al-Haya, the group’s leader in Gaza, were not killed, citing a Hamas source.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the report. Several Hamas officials did not respond to texts or phone calls.
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official based in Doha, mourns the terrorist group’s assassinated chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha last year
IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS
UN secretary-general speaks
The secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has condemned Israel’s strikes on Doha, saying they were a “flagrant violation” of Qatari sovereignty.
Antonio Guterres
LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP
He said Qatar had been playing a very positive role to try to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it, Guterres said.
Attack was by air and called Summit of Fire
An Israeli military official has said the name of the operation in Doha was Summit of Fire, adding: “These were air strikes.”
The official confirmed to AFP that the military had carried out airstrikes on Doha on Tuesday in an operation targeting senior leaders of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Analysis: Tiny peninsula has a pivotal role
Qatar, the small Arab emirate with an outsized global footprint, had concluded months ago that mediating between Israel and Hamas was a thankless task (Samer Al-Atrush writes). After Israel’s airstrike on its capital to target Hamas leaders, the country is now likely to end its role.
It had been pressuring Hamas to accept an American ceasefire proposal, purportedly accepted by Israel, after President Trump’s ultimatum last weekend. Hamas says the strikes targeted a meeting of its chief negotiators and leaders to discuss their formal response to the US proposal.
Hamas insists they survived, but the attack may have killed the negotiations — and Qatar’s role along with them.
Qatari officials had long complained that both sides were obstinate, and the acrimony between them and Israel had bubbled to the surface several times over the past two years of war in Gaza. But Hamas officials in Qatar were meant to be off-limits, an understanding Israel had accepted in the past, choosing to target them on visits to Iran, or in Beirut.
It is unclear whether Israel informed the US beforehand of the strike — Qatar is, after all, a major American ally that hosts the largest US base in the region. Washington will want to deny any knowledge of the attack on Doha, only months after Trump visited the Qatari capital.
Israel takes sole responsibility
Israel has said the strike against Hamas leaders was undertaken by Israel alone after senior officials said the US had given approval for the action.
“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” a statement by the office of the prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu read.
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it and Israel takes full responsibility.”
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has praised the targeting of Hamas leaders.
“Terrorists have no immunity and will never have immunity from Israel’s long arm anywhere in the world,” he wrote on X.
Smotrich hailed the attack as the “right decision and a perfect execution by the IDF and the Shin Bet,” Israel’s internal security agency.
Trump ‘gave green light to attack’ — Israeli media
Israeli media is reporting that President Trump gave Israel his approval for the attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar.
Donald Trump with Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House in June
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The broadcaster Channel 12 cites an Israeli official in its report that Trump “gave the green light”.
On Sunday, Trump said he was issuing a “last warning” to Hamas, insisting it accept a deal to release the remaining hostages who were seized during the October 7 attack.
Qatar condemns ‘cowardly’ attacks on Hamas homes
Qatar said the Israeli strikes had targeted Hamas officials’ homes, and condemned what it called a “cowardly” attack.
It said the strikes were a blatant violation of international law, and that an investigation is now ongoing at the “highest level”.
“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,” Majed al-Ansari, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, said in a post on X.
Strike ‘hit while leaders were discussing ceasefire proposal’
There has been no confirmation as to who was targeted
The Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera and some Israeli media outlets have reported that the strike hit a meeting of Hamas leaders as they were discussing an American ceasefire proposal, citing a senior Hamas official.
It would be the first time Israel has targeted the Hamas leadership in Qatar, after assassinations in Lebanon and Iran. Qatar had been mediating the ceasefire negotiations alongside Egypt and had been pressuring Hamas to accept the US proposal.
Doha home to many senior members of Hamas
Several senior Hamas officials live in Doha, many of whom are active in ongoing ceasefire negotiations that are hosted in Qatar.
Israel has threatened to target all the leaders of the group behind the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw more than 250 kidnapped, sparking an ongoing war.
“For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organisation’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7th massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the military statement released on Tuesday read.
In July last year, Israel targeted Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
IDF takes responsibility for explosions in Doha
The Israeli military said it struck senior Hamas leaders on Tuesday amid reports of explosions in the Qatari capital of Doha.
The Israeli Defence Forces “conducted a precise strike” targeting the “senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organisation,” a statement read, without detailing who the operation was targeting.
The statement came as videos on social media showing explosions on the Doha horizon. Smoke was seen rising over the Qatari capital in the district of Katara.