DOHA: Israel launched strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, marking expansion of its military campaign across the Middle East to include the Gulf state where the Palestinian movement has long had its political base.
The strikes struck near Doha’s Legtifya petrol station, sending black plumes of smoke into the sky as ambulances, police and government vehicles surrounded the area.
Eyewitnesses described explosions reverberating through the Qatari capital, with nearby residential compounds placed under heavy guard by Qatar’s Emiri Guard since the Gaza conflict began.
A Hamas official told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that its top negotiator’s son was among several people killed in Israeli strikes but that senior leaders survived.
“The Hamas leadership survived the cowardly assassination attempt,” Hamas political official Suhail al-Hindi told the broadcaster, adding that negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s son and aide were among the dead.
Qatar’s prime minister has held the first official briefing about what happened, in which he called Israel’s attack “state terrorism” and said there is a rogue actor in the region – Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu – who is leading the region into chaos at an irreversible level.
He also talked about the timing of the attack… which coincided with a meeting of Hamas’s negotiating team discussing the US proposal for a deal to end the war on Gaza and reach a ceasefire deal, and said Israel had sabotaged that.
Sheikh Mohammed was asked if there was still room for diplomacy, and answered that after the attack, there was very little room left.
Commenting on the US’s role, whether the Israelis informed the Americans, the prime minister said American officials contacted Qatari officials 10 minutes after the attack.
He said the country was unable to thwart it because the drones were undetectable by the radar.
President Donald Trump believes Israel’s strike on Hamas targets in Qatar was unfortunate and he directed a top aide, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar the attack was coming, the White House said on Tuesday.
Trump spoke to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the emir of Qatar after the strikes, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
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