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Israel launched a military strike on Qatar’s capital of Doha on Tuesday, saying it had targeted Hamas leadership.
Hamas said later in the day that its top leaders had survived, but seven were killed in the attack on its Doha headquarters, including five of its members, the son of its top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, and one of al-Hayya’s aides, The Associated Press reported.
Several residential buildings that housed members of the political bureau of Hamas were struck, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire agreements, condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it a “blatant violation of all international laws.”
The attack was likewise condemned by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Hamas told BBC that its negotiating delegation was targeted while it was meeting in Doha. As a result of the strike, Qatar has suspended its role as a negotiator.
Israel took responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation against Hamas for a shooting at a Jerusalem bus stop on Monday that killed six people.
“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday on X. “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”
“Prior to the strike, measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,” a senior Israeli official told NBC News.
NBC News reported that Israeli government officials notified the U.S. in advance that they were about to conduct a strike against senior Hamas leadership in Doha, citing two U.S. officials briefed on the matter and a senior White House official.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an afternoon press conference that the U.S. military informed the administration about Israel’s attack shortly before it happened.
Leavitt said while eliminating Hamas is a worthy goal, “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 added that Trump feels “very badly about the location of this attack” and “assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil.”
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the attack a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar” and said all parties must work toward achieving “a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” as reported by Reuters.