Qatar

The United Nations Security Council has condemned the Israeli attack on the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday and called for de-escalation in a statement agreed by all 15 members, including Israel’s chief ally, the United States.

Council members issued the statement ahead of the emergency meeting on Thursday, which was convened to discuss Israel’s attacks targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, as it ramped up its offensive in Gaza City, forcing more than 200,000 to flee.

Five Hamas members were killed, but the Palestinian group said its leadership survived the assassination bid. A Qatari security force member was also killed in the unprecedented attack, which has sent tensions in the region skyrocketing.

Hamas leaders were meeting to discuss a new deal proposed by US President Donald Trump when the attack happened.

“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar,” said the statement, drafted by France and the United Kingdom, which nonetheless stopped short of explicitly mentioning Israel.

It also emphasised that “releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza” were “top priority”. More than 40 captives are still held in Gaza, but only 20 of them are believed to be alive.

The US, which traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations, appeared to deliver a strong rebuke to Israel, reflecting President Donald Trump’s purported unhappiness with the attack.

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said: “Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation working very hard and bravely taking risks alongside the United States to broker peace, does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals.”

“That said, it is inappropriate for any member to use this to question Israel’s commitment to bringing their hostages home,” she continued.

Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said that diplomatic sources had told him the US “pushed back” against stronger language against Israel in the statement, which was nonetheless “highly significant”.

However, Shea had made it clear that “the US cannot and will not defend Israel’s attack on Qatar”.

“Clearly, the US still backs Israel. Clearly, the US will still … protect Israel in the Security Council, but this was a bridge too far for the United States,” said Elizondo.

“It will be interesting to see in the coming hours and days if we even get more clarification from the White House on this,” he added.

After Tuesday’s attack, the White House had said President Trump was not notified in advance. Upon learning of the attack, the president had allegedly asked his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar immediately, but the attack had already started.

‘A new and perilous chapter’

The Security Council statement highlighted “support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”, underlining the country’s crucial role as “a key mediator” in peace talks between Israel and Hamas.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani flew in from Doha for the marathon three-hour session, telling the UNSC that Doha would continue its humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, but would not tolerate further breaches of its security and sovereignty.

Blasting Israel’s leaders as “arrogant”, he said that the timing of the attacks during mediation efforts showed that the country intended to derail them. “Israel is undermining the stability of the region impetuously,” he said.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo described Qatar as a “valued partner in advancing peacemaking” and expressed concern over Israel’s recklessness, saying that the strikes represented an “alarming escalation”.

She pointed out that Israel’s war on Gaza had killed tens of thousands of people and almost completely destroyed Gaza, noting that the situation in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, had “continued to spiral downward”.

She also noted Israel’s other “dangerous escalations” across the region, involving Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

“The Israeli attack on Doha potentially opens a new and perilous chapter in this devastating conflict, seriously threatening regional peace and stability,” she said.

‘A sign of madness’

In other interventions, Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, said: “Israel behaves as if law does not exist, as if borders are illusions, as if sovereignty itself is a dispensable motion, as if the UN charter is an ephemeral text.”

Noting Israel’s attacks on Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and “renowned peace broker” Qatar, he added: “This is not strength, it is recklessness. It is a sign of madness. It is the conduct of an extremist government, emboldened by immunity [and] impunity. A government driving the region and the whole world toward the abyss.”

Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, said Israel carried out its strike on Hamas leaders, who had directed attacks planned in the “luxury confines of Doha”.

Danon said these were the “sole targets” of the attack, adding that they were “terrorists” rather than “legitimate politicians, diplomats, or representatives”.

Al Jazeera’s Elizondo said the prevailing sentiment at the session was that “the world clearly stands behind Qatar”.

“It was widespread support for Qatar and widespread condemnation of Israel,” he said. “You also saw countries wanting accountability for Israel’s continued crimes.”

Funeral services have been held for the six people killed in an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha, as Arab leaders continue to visit the Gulf nation to express solidarity.

One coffin bearing a Qatari flag and five others bearing Palestinian flags were brought to Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque, live footage from Qatar television showed on Thursday.

“The mood has been sombre since the death toll from Israel’s failed assassination attempt against the leadership of Hamas in Doha was announced earlier this week,” Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javed reported.

“We heard the Qatari prime minister giving special prayers for him at the funeral ceremony,” he added.

The Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was also present, standing in the front row, “signalling that Qatar stands by its people, especially with those who gave their lives in this unprecedented attack on a Gulf Cooperation Council country”, Bin Javed said, reporting from the Qatari capital.

The Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday as they were meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by US President Donald Trump.

At least six people were killed in the attack, including five low-ranking Hamas members. However, the group said its leadership survived the assassination bid.

Qatari Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari was also among the killed.

In the aftermath of the Doha attack, US President Donald Trump said he felt “very badly” about the location of the attacks and later told reporters he was “not thrilled” by Israel’s actions.

Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy says Israel’s attack against a Hamas delegation in Qatar sends a message not just to the Palestinian group, but to the region.

“Either get on board with our project of regional hegemony, which includes the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, or we dare you because we have America on our side and we are unassailable militarily,” Levy said.

Arab states express solidarity

A slew of Arab and Muslim leaders descended on Doha since Israel’s unprecedented attack, including United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who met the emir on Wednesday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also arrived in the Qatari capital to express his country’s show of support for the tiny Gulf nation. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected in Doha on Thursday.

The Qatari Emir also received a verbal message of solidarity from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Thursday, conveyed by his Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during a meeting in Doha.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Abdelatty’s visit was aimed at expressing the country’s “full solidarity” with Qatar and “to discuss ways to deal with the dangerous Israeli escalation and coordinate positions” with senior Qatari officials.

Qatar will convene an emergency Arab-Islamic summit to discuss Israel’s attack, according to the state news agency QNA, a possible hint of what shape a collective regional response would take.

The summit will take place in Doha on Sunday and Monday.

The announcement came as the United Nations Security Council opened an emergency session on Thursday to discuss the attack, which was delayed a day to allow the Qatari prime minister to attend the meeting.

Hamas condemns the attack

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, in a televised statement on Thursday, said the Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas’s negotiating delegation in Doha and continued threats to target the movement’s leadership abroad showed Israel’s “failure to achieve its goals” after 23 months of genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians.

In the Palestinian group’s first address since Tuesday’s attack, Barhoum said that the group will keep fighting despite the assassination attempt.

“The Israeli attack cannot dent our resolve by targeting our leaders,” the Hamas spokesperson said. “The crime did not target the negotiating delegation, but rather the entire negotiation process.”

The attack on Tuesday was the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has dubbed Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders “state terrorism”.

“There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” he told US media outlet CNN on Wednesday, adding that “the entire Gulf region is at risk”.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed undeterred, threatening further attacks on Qatar.

“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Israel has assassinated many of Hamas’s top military and political leaders in the last two years, such as top political leader Yahya Sinwar; military commander Mohammed Deif, one of the founders of the Qassam Brigades in the 1990s; and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli prime minister’s comments, calling them a “shameful attempt … to justify the cowardly attack that targeted Qatari territory, as well as the explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty”.

On Thursday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs “condemned and denounced” Netanyahu’s comments, calling them “hostile”.

“Any aggression against a GCC member state constitutes an attack on the collective Gulf security framework,” the ministry said, stressing that “the continuation of such provocative and hostile rhetoric undermines prospects for stability and pushes the region towards extremely dangerous trajectories”.

Mourners gathered in Qatar’s capital Doha to pray for six victims of Israel’s attack, including a 22-year-old policeman. The strike has been described as unprecedented for the Gulf.

Planet Labs has collected satellite images that show just the level of precision in yesterday’s unprecedented Israeli airstrike on a Hamas compound in Doha, Qatar. The IAF hit a compound where negotiators for the terror group were meeting to consider a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by the U.S. government. You can read our initial reporting on that incident here.

The images offer views of what that compound looked like before and after the attack. The one taken after the attack shows it was confined to a cluster of five buildings without damage to surrounding structures. The building in the lower right corner of the compound appears to have suffered the most damage, but other areas of the compound are clearly affected too. This includes a small structure that sits near a pool being destroyed. The buildings right next to the compound seemed to have emerged largely unscathed.

You can see a street view of the strike in the following video.

Israeli officials said the Doha strike was carried out by 15 Israeli fighter jets, firing 10 precision munitions against a single target, the BBC reported, citing Israeli media. We don’t know at the moment what weapons were used.

Qatar and its U.S. guests have very advanced air defense systems and sensors that would provide prior alert to an impending attack, in most circumstances. With standoff munitions launched at distance the most likely means of attack, why there was no attempt to intercept these weapons if they were of unknown origin isn’t clear. The use of F-35s is possible here, as well, which may have been able to make closer proximity standoff attacks, but Israel has F-15 and F-16-launched weapons capable of reaching hundreds of miles and strike with pinpoint accuracy.

The U.S. military spotted Israeli jets flying east toward the Persian Gulf but had little time to react, according to Axios.

“The U.S. sought clarification, but by the time Israel provided it, missiles were already in the air,” the publication reported, citing three U.S. officials.

At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump “was informed of the impending strike by his military and alerted Qatar’s leadership,” White House spokesperson Karonline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.

So exactly what the U.S. knew about the impending strike and when, and when Qatar was informed, remains disputed at this time.

Qatari officials complained that they only found out about the attack after it took place. Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said notification from the U.S. only came after explosions were heard in Doha. He did not address why his nation’s air defense system did not pick up the Israeli jets.

The statements being circulated about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are baseless. The call from a U.S. official came during the sound of explosions caused by the Israeli attack in Doha.

— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) September 9, 2025

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, however, said Israeli jets went undetected by radar.

Israel used weapons that were not detected by Qatari air defence radar, says Qatari PM Al Thani: 

“US officials notified Qatar of Israeli attack 10 minutes after the attack began”

pic.twitter.com/X3m22vnOGs

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) September 9, 2025

The Iranian Press TV news outlet questioned why “with many air defense systems present”…the U.S. hadn’t “fired a single shot to defend Qatar against the Israeli invasion.” The U.S. military’s largest salvo of Patriot interceptors took place at Al Udeid back in June, defending against an Iranian missile barrage. You can read more about that here.

As we previously reported, the widely condemned strike targeted Hamas leadership but killed five lower-level Hamas negotiators instead. Now it appears some Israeli officials are trying to distance themselves from that attack.

“Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who has led Israel’s ceasefire negotiations for months, told U.S. officials that he was unaware of the specific strike plan when he met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff one day earlier, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous officials.

“David Barnea, the Mossad director who has played a key role in ceasefire talks, told US and Qatari mediators that he had no prior knowledge of the strikes and learned about them as they took place,” the network added. “But two other Israeli sources familiar with the discussions told CNN that Barnea was aware of the plans and had questioned the wisdom of carrying out the strikes at the same time as the U.S. was launching a new attempt to restart negotiations.

As the cable network noted, it is “highly unlikely that either official would have been unaware of the planning and decision-making to carry out such a high-profile strike.”

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Wednesday, Al Thani expressed outrage at the attack, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs to be brought to justice,” and that Arab nations were working on what steps to take next.

“There is a response that will happen from the region,” he told the network. “This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” Al Thani said. An Arab-Islamic summit will be held in Doha in the coming days, where the participants will decide on a course of action.”

Qatar’s PM to CNN:

There will be a “collective response” to Israel’s strike on Hamas officials in Doha.

— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 10, 2025

Al Thani added that Netanyahu is “trying to undermine any chance of stability, any chance of peace” by attacking Hamas’ leadership in Doha. All this leaves the future of negotiations between Israel and Hamas in doubt. Israel is planning a full-scale ground assault on the Palestinian enclave, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in constant bombardment. These attacks follow the surprise Hamas incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 and resulted in the capture of hundreds of hostages, some still in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a day after the Qatar strike, Israel said it carried out airstrikes on targets in Yemen belonging to the Houthi rebels.

“A short while ago, the IAF struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Sanaa and Al Jawf in Yemen,” the IDF said on Telegram. “Among the targets struck are military camps in which operatives of the terrorist regime were identified, the Houthis’ Military Public Relations Headquarters, and a fuel storage facility that was used by the terrorist regime for terrorist activity.”

⭕️The IDF struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Sanaa and Al Jawf in Yemen.

Among the targets struck:
• Military camps in which the Houthi regime gathered intelligence, and planned & executed terrorist attacks against Israel.
• A…

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 10, 2025

The IDF claimed that the airstrikes were “conducted in response to attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel, including launching UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles toward Israeli territory.”

Israel justified its attack by saying that the Houthis’ public relations department is “responsible for distributing and disseminating propaganda messages in the media, including speeches of Houthis leader Abd al-Malik and spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree’s statements. During the war, the headquarters led the propaganda efforts and the terrorist regime’s psychological terror.”

The military camps that were struck “served the Houthi regime to plan and execute terrorist attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF claimed. “Additionally, the military camps included operation and intelligence rooms.”

The Houthis claim without proof that they deflected most of the attack.

“Our air defenses were able to launch a number of surface-to-air missiles during the confrontation of the Zionist aggression on our country, forcing some combat formations to retreat before carrying out their aggression, and thwarting the majority of the attack, thanks to God,” Saree, a target of the airstrike, stated on X. You can read more about the Houthis’ air defenses in our deep dive here.

دفاعاتُنا الجوية تتصدى في هذه الأثناء للطائرات الإسرائيلية التي تشن عدوانا على بلدِنا.

— العميد يحيى سريع (@army21yemen) September 10, 2025

Video and images emerged on social media showing explosions in the Yemeni capital, followed by flames and trails of smoke.

⚡ Israel bombs houthis

An airstrike was carried out on the Houthi government complex in the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. Media reports indicate hits on the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff buildings.

“Israel’s long arm will reach and strike terrorism anywhere it… pic.twitter.com/v9cHMFClDl

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 10, 2025

🇮🇱🇾🇪 WATCH: Multiple Israeli Airstrikes against Houthis in Sana’a

Footage captures the moment an Israeli strike targeted the area near the Presidential Palace in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, controlled by the Houthis.

The strikes reportedly target military and government buildings… pic.twitter.com/wC0y3gLLRo

— Conflict Dispatch (@ConflictDISP) September 10, 2025

This is the latest in a series of attacks Israel has carried out against the Houthis in response to the Iranian-backed rebel group’s firing missiles and drones at Israel. The Houthis say they are supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and on Sunday, sent a drone that breached Israel’s vaunted multilayered air defenses and slammed into the country’s southern airport. You can see a video of that incident below.

The mystery as to how Israel pulled off its strike in Qatar remains unsolved at this time, but hopefully we will learn more in the coming days about what was truly an unprecedented and highly controversial operation.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Israeli forces killed more than 70 people in Gaza on Wednesday and launched deadly attacks on Yemen after earlier strikes on Hamas delegation in Doha, Qatar.

Downing Street later stressed that ‘the UK and Israel are longstanding allies’ despite their differences.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticised Israel’s “man-made famine” in Gaza following a controversial meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in London.

“They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations,” a Downing Street spokesperson said following the meeting on Wednesday.

Starmer “implored Israel to change course” in Gaza, the spokesperson said.

The rare rebuke marks one of Starmer’s strongest criticisms of Israel since taking office in July 2024. It also comes as aid groups warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic hunger after nearly two years of bombardment and blockade.

Herzog’s visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech.

“There’s a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it,” a protester told Al Jazeera.

“This is not diplomacy,” said another protester.

“You are aiding and abetting a genocide – and this man is not welcome in our country.”

The meeting between Herzog and Starmer came a day after Israel launched an air strike on Qatar, a close ally of the United States and the UK, that targeted a Hamas leadership delegation.

The Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer told Herzog the strike on Doha was “unacceptable” and condemned it as “a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty”.

Despite the sharp words, the spokesperson added that “the UK and Israel are longstanding allies”.

Speaking after his meeting with Starmer, Herzog confirmed the two leaders had “argued out of respect”.

“Things were said that were tough and strong,” Herzog said, adding, “Clearly, we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies.”

Herzog also said that he had invited the UK to send “a fact-finding mission” to Israel “to study the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.

Herzog previously said publicly that the “entire [Palestinian] nation” was responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel, and two months later, he was witnessed personally signing artillery shells due to be fired into Gaza.

In parliament earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn asked: “What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?”

Starmer defended his decision to meet Herzog, rejecting calls to cut diplomatic ties. “I will not give up on diplomacy,” he said.

“That is the politics of students.”

Israeli missiles hit Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Tuesday, with Israel saying it was targeting Hamas leaders, as they met to discuss ceasefire efforts in Gaza. Qatar called it a breach of sovereignty. With global condemnation mounting, what does this unprecedented attack mean for the negotiations and the people in Gaza?

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that there must be a “collective response” to Israel’s attack on the Qatari capital Doha, as Arab leaders rushed to the tiny Gulf nation to express solidarity.

“There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” he told US media outlet CNN on Wednesday, adding that “the entire Gulf region is at risk”.

“We are hoping for something meaningful that deters Israel from continuing this bullying,” Sheikh Mohammed added, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of leading the region into “chaos”.

“We understand some sort of regional meeting will be held here in Qatar. We know that the countries have pulled together their own legal team. They are looking at all legal avenues to have Netanyahu tried for breaking international law,” Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said.

“So yeah, the pressure is definitely mounting on Israel, not only from Qatar, but obviously on a regional and a wider international level. And that’s what I think he’s obviously trying to do in giving these very forceful statements to the US network, CNN.”

The Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday as they were meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by US President Donald Trump. At least seven people were killed in the attack, but Hamas said its leadership survived the assassination bid. Qatar says two of its security officers were killed in the attack that has drawn global condemnation.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israel’s attack in a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “These strikes are unacceptable. I condemn them. I reaffirmed France’s commitment to the sovereignty and security of Qatar,” he posted on X.

The attack was part of a wider wave of Israeli strikes extending beyond its immediate borders, and marked the sixth country attacked in just 72 hours and the seventh since the start of this year. On Wednesday, Israel killed 35 people in an attack on Yemen.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on Wednesday that Israel’s strike on Qatar is a warning to oil-rich Gulf countries that they would not be spared in the future if armed groups in the region are defeated.

“We are on the side of Qatar that was subjected to an aggression and we also stand with the Palestinian resistance,” Naim Kassem said. He added that the Israeli strike is part of its attempts to create a “Greater Israel” in large parts of the Middle East.

The “Greater Israel” concept supported by ultranationalist Israelis is understood to refer to an expansionist vision that lays claim to the occupied West Bank, Gaza, parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan.

Israel has been accused of committing genocide in Gaza by numerous rights groups, but that has not stopped it from its brutal campaign of bombardment. On Wednesday, Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 72 people, taking the total number of Palestinians killed since October 2023 to more than 64,656. Israel has intensified its assault to capture Gaza City – home to more than one million Palestinians.

Sheikh Mohammed, the Qatari prime minister, also said that the Israeli strike was aimed at undermining “any chance of peace” in Gaza.

“Everything about the meeting is very well known to the Israelis and the Americans. It’s not something that we are hiding,” he said of the presence of Hamas officials in Qatar.

“I think that what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu did yesterday – he just killed any hope for those [Israeli] hostages,” Sheikh Mohammed said about the 20 captives believed to be still alive in Gaza.

Netanyahu appears unfazed

However, Netanyahu appears unfazed by the criticism from global leaders, including the UN secretary-general.

On Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister threatened further attacks on Qatar. “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu said.

Qatar has condemned Netanyahu’s “reckless” comments regarding Qatar’s hosting of the Hamas office. “Netanyahu is fully aware that the hosting of the Hamas office took place within the framework of Qatar’s mediation efforts requested by the United States and Israel,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

It also called out “the shameful attempt therein to justify the cowardly attack that targeted Qatari territory, as well as the explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty”.

Netanyahu’s threats came despite the US President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying no further attacks would happen on Qatari soil.

The attack on Tuesday was the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and hosts the region’s largest United States military base, Al Udeid airbase, which hosts US troops.

The Qatari prime minister, who is also the foreign minister of the Gulf nation, has dubbed Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday “state terrorism”.

“I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action … we are betrayed,” he said in the interview with the cable network.

Netanyahu “needs to be brought to justice. He’s the one who’s wanted at the International Criminal Court. He broke every international law,” Sheikh Mohammed said, referring to the arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister for war crimes.

Arab states express solidarity with Qatar

Meanwhile, Gulf leaders have visited Doha to rally around Qatar, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan calling the Israeli action “criminal” and a threat to regional stability.

In a meeting on Wednesday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Sheikh Al Nahyan reaffirmed his country’s “resolute solidarity with Qatar and its steadfast support for all measures taken to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its people”, according to the UAE state media outlet WAM.

“He [Sheikh Al Nahyan] stressed that the criminal attack constituted a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and of all international laws and norms, warning that such actions threaten the region’s security, stability, and prospects for peace,” WAM added.

The crown princes of Kuwait and Jordan also travelled to Doha on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, will arrive in Doha on Thursday.

“We will stand with the State of Qatar in all measures it takes, without limits, and we will harness all our capabilities for that,” Prince Mohammed said in an address to the Shura Council on Wednesday.

“We reject and condemn the attacks of the Israeli occupation in the region, the latest of which was the brutal aggression against the State of Qatar,” the crown prince added.

“This requires Arab, Islamic, and international action to confront this aggression and to take international measures to stop the occupation authority and deter it from its criminal practices aimed at destabilising the region’s security and stability.”

In a brief interview with reporters on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he was “not thrilled” about Israel’s strike.

“This was a decision made by [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Still, it remains unclear whether the Trump administration had been caught off guard, whether the US had indicated even tacit approval for such a strike, or if the attack could represent a rupture in Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel.

Independent Middle East Analyst Adam Shapiro said if the US was not made aware of the attack, it was not “something new”.

“I think this is just simply the way Israel continually acts as the tail wagging the US dog, doing what it wishes, when it wishes, and getting what it wants, according to a double standard,” he told Al Jazeera.

Israeli air strikes hit Yemen’s capital Sanaa a day after Israel targeted Qatar’s capital Doha. Initial reports say several people were killed and dozens injured. The Israeli military says a Houthi missile was fired at Jerusalem yesterday following the Israeli attack on Qatar.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha, drawing near universal condemnation and, according to analysts, crossing all previous red lines.

The attack reportedly targeted Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza leader and main negotiator, who has risen up the ranks after Israel assassinated Yahya Sinwar in Gaza and Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last year. Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political office since 2012 at the request of the United States, according to Qatari officials.

The attack came as Doha, which hosts the US’s largest military base in the region, hosted ongoing ceasefire talks to try and end Israel’s war on Gaza, which has now killed more than 64,600 people and wounded more than 163,000 since October 2023.

Immediately after Israel’s attack, a wave of conflicting information and speculation emerged, particularly over whether or not the US had been informed of the attack.

How was the attack planned, who knew about it, and why did it happen now?

What do we know?

Israel admitted to the attack almost immediately.

“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” a statement by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israeli media claimed the operation included the use of 15 Israeli fighter jets that dropped 10 bombs. It also included the use of drones.

The attack targeted Hamas leadership, who were meeting to discuss US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal, but they survived. However, six others, including a Qatari security officer, were killed.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called the assault “state terrorism”, promising to respond to the strikes, which he said “must not be overlooked”.

How long had it been planned for?

Israeli media claims the operation, which was labelled “Summit of Fire”, took “months of preparation”.

Israeli officials also told CNN that the decision to attack Doha was taken a while ago, while planning took place over two to three months, accelerating in recent weeks.

During the actual attack, Netanyahu was stationed in the Shin Bet domestic intelligence headquarters.

Until now, Qatar has been the base for negotiations between Hamas and Israel. Due to that fact and the presence of a US military base in Doha, many believed it to be off limits to Israeli attacks.

But that veil of safety seems to have been part of Israel’s plan, defence analyst Hamze Attar said.

“Israel [has been] incubating that Doha is a safe zone for Hamas leadership to gather,” Attar, who is based in Luxembourg, told Al Jazeera. “This is not an operation that happens in a day or two. This is something you create for many years in order to create a safe haven for someone so they keep going there and [eventually] eliminate them in a way they do not expect.”

Whose airspace did Israel use to travel to Qatar?

It’s not entirely clear.

When Israel attacked Iran earlier in the year, its planes used Syrian and Iraqi airspace, since neither country has the capacity to shoot down Israeli planes.

Jordan, which does have air defence systems, claimed Israel did not use its airspace for the attack.

Why did Israel attack now?

While the operation had been planned for months, Netanyahu said it was a response to a shooting in occupied East Jerusalem that killed six people on Monday.

But some analysts doubt Netanyahu’s explanation.

Right before the attack, Trump was ramping up his calls for a ceasefire. Netanyahu, however, may not be interested in a deal.

“I think the bottom line here is that Israel clearly is not interested in any kind of ceasefire or negotiations for a ceasefire, that the reports about Trump’s proposal negotiating with Hamas, whatever this revised new offer was, was all a ruse and theatre and clearly a coordinated Israel-US attack in Doha,” Mairav Zonszein, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst on Israel, told Al Jazeera.

Other patterns have also emerged that cast doubt on Netanyahu’s explanation.

For months, Israel’s premier has also launched military attacks that coincide with demands that he appear in court. Netanyahu is currently on trial over corruption charges.

And on Wednesday, Netanyahu returned to court to testify in his corruption trial. Footage showed Netanyahu entering the courtroom in Tel Aviv as proceedings in the trial resumed for the first time in more than a month.

The attack also came amid Israeli demands that Palestinians leave Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands are taking refuge from Israel’s war on Gaza. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times and can no longer afford to evacuate, which could lead to many more civilian casualties amid already growing international pressure over what scholars and human rights groups are calling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, where famine has been declared.

Did the US know about the attack?

The White House, including Trump himself, said the US government was informed about the attack, but did not give many details.

“The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Leavitt said that Trump told US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to “inform the Qataris of an impending attack”.

With the US Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, analysts said it would be difficult for Israel to pull off such an attack without being detected by the Americans.

Still, despite the advanced knowledge, the US expressed discontent over Israel’s actions.

Trump said he was “not thrilled” by the attack when interviewed by reporters.

“This was a decision made by [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

This sentiment was bolstered by Leavitt, who told reporters during a press conference: “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. However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”

Was Qatar informed?

Qatari officials said that by the time they were informed of the preplanned attack, explosions were already ringing out across Doha.

Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said the call from the US came 10 minutes after the attack had already begun.

Furthermore, Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said claims that the government had been “pre-informed of the attack are completely false”.

“The call that was received from an American official came during the sound of the explosions that resulted from the Israeli attack in Doha,” al-Ansari wrote in a statement on X.

US President Donald Trump said he’s “not thrilled” about Israel’s deadly attack on Hamas in Qatar that targeted a residential compound in Doha, where a delegation was meeting to discuss the US’s ceasefire proposal for Gaza.

Israel’s attack that killed six in Doha draws criticism from across the world as Israeli troops continue to bombard Gaza.

Israel’s military described its attack on a residential complex in central Doha, Qatar, as a “precise” attack.

In an official statement on Tuesday, the Palestinian movement Hamas said the attack killed five of its members, and a Qatari officer, but did not eliminate its negotiating delegation or any of its senior leadership.

Here is what we know about the victims, and the senior leaders who were targeted – but who appear to have survived the attack:

Who is Khalil al-Hayya?

Reports say the strike targeted senior Hamas figures, including Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza leader and main negotiator.

Al-Hayya rose in importance after the killings of top Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, and military commander Mohammed Deif last year. Sinwar, who had taken charge in Gaza after Haniyeh’s death, was killed later in 2024.

With those losses, al-Hayya is now one of five leaders steering Hamas’s leadership council.

The leadership council refers to the temporary, five-member ruling committee that was formed in late 2024 to govern the group during the war.

Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, al-Hayya has been part of Hamas since it was set up in 1987, but he became especially important on the diplomatic front, based mainly in Qatar, which became the main hub for mediation with other countries, including Israel, Egypt, and the United States.

Operating outside Gaza allowed him to travel and coordinate between neighbouring countries without the constraints of the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Al-Hayya has also led Hamas’s delegations in mediated talks with Israel to try to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Al-Hayya’s own family have suffered as a result of Israeli attacks: During the 2014 war, an Israeli strike destroyed the house of his eldest son, Osama, killing him, his wife, and three of their children, and during Tuesday’s attack, his son, Humam, was also killed.

But he stressed that the loss of any lives is tragic. “The blood of the leadership of the movement is like the blood of any Palestinian child,” he told Al Jazeera.

Who else is believed to be targeted and who was killed during the attack?

Zaher Jabarin is believed to also have been a target of Israel’s attack. He currently serves as the movement’s chief financial administrator.

Earlier in 1993, Israel arrested Jabarin and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He spent almost two decades in prison before being released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange.

Following his release, Jabarin rose quickly through Hamas ranks. He became head of the group’s financial bureau, managing and overseeing an extensive investment and funding network. He currently also heads Hamas in the occupied West Bank, and he is one of the five members of the leadership council.

The leaders assassinated during Israel’s attack in Qatar also include:

• Jihad Labad – director of al-Hayya’s office
• Humam al-Hayya – al-Hayya’s son
• Abdullah Abdul Wahid – bodyguard
• Moamen Hassouna – bodyguard
• Ahmed al-Mamluk – bodyguard

The sixth person killed, according to Qatar, was Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya).

Who are the current leaders of Hamas?

With many of Hamas’s leadership killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, the group formed a five-man leadership council – which includes al-Hayya and Jabarin – and also has a senior military figure in Gaza itself.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad

Al-Haddad became the most senior Hamas military leader in the Gaza Strip after Sinwar’s death. Israel considers him one of the masterminds behind October 7 and has placed him on its most-wanted list. He is not a member of the five-man leadership council.

Khaled Meshaal

Khaled Meshaal, 68, has been a senior political leader of Hamas, a Palestinian resistance movement, since the 1990s. He became known when Israeli agents attempted to inject a slow-acting lethal chemical into his ear on a public street in Jordan, but the operation was botched, and the men were soon arrested. He is now based in Qatar, serving on the leadership council.

“It is true that in reality, there will be an entity or a state called Israel on the rest of Palestinian land,” Meshaal has said. “But I won’t deal with it in terms of recognising or admitting it.”

Mohammad Darwish

He is also based in Qatar, and is the nominal head of Hamas’s leadership council. According to reports, in early 2025, he met Turkiye’s President Erdogan and publicly endorsed the idea of a technocratic or national unity government for post-war Gaza.

Nizar Awadallah

Awadallah is a long-time Hamas leader. He is seen as one of Hamas’s original members and has held several important positions, including in its armed wing. Since the October 7 attacks, he has not spoken publicly or appeared in the media.

As the world’s attention was focused on Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Israeli forces continued their unrelenting bombardment of Gaza, killing more than 50 people on Tuesday.

Among the dead are nine Palestinians, who had gathered in the enclave’s south seeking aid. Israel pressed on with its offensive in Gaza City after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Palestinians to flee to the south for their lives.

The Wafa news agency reported that a drone strike on a makeshift tent sheltering displaced families at Gaza’s port killed two civilians and injured others. Warplanes also hit several residential buildings, including four homes in the al-Mukhabarat area and the Zidan building northwest of Gaza City, it reported.

Another house was reportedly bombed in the Talbani neighbourhood of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, while two young men were killed in an attack on civilians in the az-Zarqa area of Tuffah, northeast of Gaza City.

Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency confirmed footage showing an Israeli strike on the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque in Deir el-Balah. The video captured a flash of light before the mosque’s minaret was enveloped in smoke. Despite the blast, the minaret appeared to remain standing.

Israel issued new evacuation threats on Monday, releasing maps warning Palestinians to leave a highlighted building and nearby tents on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street in Gaza City or face death. It told residents to move to the so-called “humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi, a barren stretch of coast in southern Gaza.

But al-Mawasi itself has been repeatedly bombed, despite Israel insisting it is a safe zone. At the start of the year, about 115,000 people lived there. Today, aid agencies estimate that more than 800,000 people – nearly a third of Gaza’s population – are crammed into overcrowded makeshift camps.

Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, described al-Mawasi as a vast camp “concentrating hungry Palestinians in despair”.

“There is no safe place in Gaza, let alone a humanitarian zone. Warnings of famine have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.

The Palestinian Civil Defence warned that “Gaza City is burning, and humanity is being annihilated”.

The rescue agency said that in just 72 hours, five high-rise towers containing more than 200 apartments were destroyed, leaving thousands of people homeless.

More than 350 tents sheltering displaced families were also flattened, it added, forcing nearly 7,600 people to sleep in the open, “struggling against death, hunger, and unbearable heat”.

More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed, some 20,000 of them children, in the Israeli offensive, which has been dubbed a genocide by numerous scholars and activists. The International Criminal Court has also issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.

‘The crime of forced displacement’

The Government Media Office in Gaza said that more than 1.3 million people remain in Gaza City and surrounding areas, despite Israeli attempts to push them south. It described the evacuation orders as an effort to carry out “the crime of forced displacement in violation of all international laws”.

More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times in 23 months of genocidal war, and an Israeli curb on aid entry, including food items, has led to starvation deaths. Last month, a UN agency declared famine in Gaza, affecting half a million people.

On Tuesday morning, Palestinians in central Gaza staged a protest against the latest evacuation orders.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that demonstrators carried banners reading, “We will not leave”, and “Not going out”.

“The primary goal of the [Israeli] occupation is displacement,” said Bajees al-Khalidi, a displaced Palestinian at the protest. “But there’s no place left, not in the south, nor the north. We’ve become completely trapped.”

Violence also flared in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed two teenagers in the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency.

Mourners on Tuesday buried 14-year-old Islam Noah, who was shot while attempting to enter the besieged refugee camp. A funeral was also held for another 14-year-old, Muhammad Alawneh. Two others were wounded in the same incident.

Israel targets Hamas leaders

Israel sent missiles at Doha as Hamas leaders were meeting in the Qatari capital for talks on the latest ceasefire proposal from the United States to end the war in Gaza. Hamas said five people were killed, while Qatar said a security official was also among the dead. Hamas said its leadership survived the assassination attempt.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani condemned Israel’s “reckless criminal attack” in a phone call with US President Donald Trump. Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called the attack “state terrorism”.

The Qatari prime minister said Doha would continue to work to end Israel’s war on Gaza, but raised doubts about the viability of the most recent talks. “When it comes to the current talks, I don’t think there is something valid right now after we’ve seen such an attack,” he said.

Qatar has sent a letter to the UN Security Council, condemning what it calls a cowardly Israeli assault on residential buildings in Doha.

The Doha attack has drawn global condemnation, with the UN chief calling it a “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.

The White House claimed that the US had warned Qatar of the impending strike, but Doha rejected that account, insisting the warning came only after the bombing had begun.

Trump later said he felt “very badly about the location of the attack” and that he had assured Qatar that it would not happen again.

“This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”

Israel has carried out a precision strike targeting the top leadership of Hamas in the Qatari capital Doha. This appears to be the first time Israeli forces have openly attacked in Qatar, marking a significant expansion in the country’s operations against Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA; better known as Shin Bet) issued a joint statement after explosions rocked an area of Doha earlier today. This all comes as Hamas negotiators have been considering a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by the U.S. government.

Washington, DC – The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it notified Qatari officials before Israel’s attack on Hamas negotiators in Doha, a claim refuted by the Gulf country.

The statement from the White House on Tuesday came hours after the strike on a residential area in the Gulf country’s capital, Doha. Qatar has been a lead mediator in US-backed ceasefire talks aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

“The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

“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.”

Leavitt added that Trump directed his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to “inform the Qataris of the impending attack”.

However, Qatar refuted the characterisation, with a spokesperson for the foreign ministry saying claims that the government had been “pre-informed of the attack are completely false”.

“The call that was received from an American official came during the sound of the explosions that resulted from the Israeli attack in Doha,” Majed Al-Ansari wrote in a statement on X.

Hamas said the attack killed five of its members, but its main negotiating team survived. Among the dead was a Qatari security officer, the country’s interior ministry said. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decried the Israeli attack as “cowardly”, while condemning “any action targeting its security and sovereignty”.

The Gulf country had previously helped to broker a pause in fighting in Gaza in November 2023 and a six-week ceasefire in January 2025. Its role had been regularly praised by both the administration of former President Joe Biden and President Trump.

Israel struck central Doha just days after Trump issued a warning to Hamas’s negotiating team as he pushed for a new ceasefire. The US has repeatedly accused Hamas of stalling negotiations. Israel has been accused of repeatedly scuttling the talks.

“The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

“I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

Following the attack, Hamas said those targeted had been discussing Trump’s latest proposal.

The group added the strike “confirms beyond doubt that Netanyahu and his government do not want to reach any agreement and are deliberately seeking to thwart all opportunities and thwart international efforts”.

“We hold the US administration jointly responsible with the occupation for this crime, due to its ongoing support for the aggression and crimes of the occupation against our people,” the group said.

Leavitt, meanwhile, told reporters that Trump “believes this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace”.

She said Trump also spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the strike, but did not say if he threatened any actions against the close US ally, as well as Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

‘Reduced to nothing’

Despite the White House statement, Khalil Jahshan, the executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC, many countries and residents in the region will still view the Trump administration as complicit.

“When Israel is given a green light to basically wreak havoc over the region and violate international law, violate sovereignty of nations that are not even enemies, but actually very close allies of the United States, one has to wonder: Where does Israel stand, and why would Israel be allowed to do that?” he said.

Qatar, which has remained a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, was designated a “major non-NATO ally” in 2022, a status the US Department of State describes as being a “powerful symbol” of close strategic ties and a demonstration of “deep respect for the friendship for the countries to which it is extended”.

Jahshan said the honorific, in the wake of Israel’s strike, has been “reduced to nothing”.

“If that status allows you to be exposed to attacks from a US ally with a US green light. Then, to me, I would rather not have friends like this,” he said.

Qatar also houses Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the Middle East. Along with the US Air Force, the base houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, and a total of about 10,000 personnel.

The country has also positioned itself as a diplomatic asset to the US and other Western powers, for years hosting political offices of groups significant to their foreign policy, including Hamas and the Taliban. Qatari officials have said they agreed to host the Hamas office more than a decade ago at the behest of Washington.

Nabeel Khoury, who formerly served as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Yemen, said the location of Tuesday’s strike, in the heart of Doha and just kilometres from Al Udeid left him stunned.

“As cynical as I am and as used as I am to Israeli excesses, I have to say I was shocked,” he said. “I think everybody should be shocked and should be woken up from whatever dream they’re in to the reality that Israel has now obviously become a totally rogue state.”

Khoury said the strike would likely chill diplomacy, further undermining US credibility in the region and giving pause to any groups or allies considering participating in US-backed negotiations.

“Honestly, I don’t see how anybody, especially in the Arab world, can continue to deal with the US,” Khoury said.

Jahshan added that Qatar’s neighbours, including the UAE, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020, in Saudi Arabia, which has long been eyed as a crown jewel in Israeli-Arab normalisation, will feel pressure to take a strong stance.

“If they allow one of them to be the target of such an attack, then they’re all targets for such attacks in the future,” he said. “How do they proceed?”

Israel had no intention of covering up its involvement in Tuesday’s attack on Doha – within minutes of the explosions being heard in the Qatari capital, Israeli officials were claiming responsibility in the media.

And not long after, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly took responsibility for the attack on several Hamas leaders.

“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” the statement said.

The attack marks yet another escalation by Israel – the latest in a series that has included launching a war against Iran, occupying more land in Syria, killing the leadership of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and the killing of more than 64,500 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since its war there began.

But this attack marks a new frontier in what Israel believes it can get away with: a direct attack on a United States ally – Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region – that has been leading negotiations to secure a ceasefire deal and release Israeli captives from Gaza.

“We’ve seen that Israel fires in crowded and residential areas and in capitals across the Middle East as it pleases,” Mairav Zonszein, the International Crisis Group’s Senior Israel Analyst, told Al Jazeera. “And it continues to do so, and will continue to do so, [if no one] takes serious action to stop it.”

The attack took many by surprise because it went beyond what Palestinian defence analyst Hamze Attar called, “traditional Mossad [Israeli intelligence] work”, such as assassinations through car bombs, poison, or gun or sniper attacks.

“I don’t think … the Qataris expected that Israel would bomb Doha,” he said.

Cinzia Bianco, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that Israel’s previous attacks around the world meant “the Qataris knew that they were not completely off limits, but obviously no one anticipated a direct attack, and just the defiance and unhinged recklessness of it surprised, I would say, everyone”.

Israel has so far received little pushback for its actions from the US – both under current President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. In the first comments from the White House on the attack, a statement from Trump said that while the US had been informed of the attack, Israel had carried out the attack unilaterally. The statement added that the attack did not advance Israeli or American goals, but that hitting Hamas was a “worthy goal”.

“I don’t think, analytically speaking, that Israel would carry out any such attack without an American green light,” said Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara. “If America indeed did not give a green light, we should be hearing a condemnation coming any minute … The Trump administration needs to condemn this behaviour by its client, Israel, while [ceasefire] negotiations are going on.”

End of ceasefire negotiations?

Those ceasefire negotiations are discussing a deal that Trump has pushed for himself, but with the caveat that the US president has taken to issuing his own threats towards Hamas and Gaza should a deal not be reached.

That has implied that the Palestinian group has been the main barrier to a deal – but, in reality, Hamas has agreed to past ceasefire proposals, only to find Israel rejects deals it has previously agreed to, or changes the parameters of the negotiations.

The Trump administration previously pushed for a deal that would include the partial release of Israeli captives and a temporary pause in the fighting during which negotiations for a permanent end to the war would continue.

But Israel rejected that after initially supporting it, and the current deal being proposed calls for Hamas to release all captives, but only gets a temporary pause in the fighting in return.

Coupled with Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza City, where it has demanded all Palestinians leave, and its insistence that Hamas be destroyed, it looks likely that Israel plans to continue its war, whatever the outcome of the negotiations.

“I think the bottom line here is that Israel clearly is not interested in any kind of ceasefire, or negotiations for a ceasefire, [and] that the reports about Trump’s proposal of negotiating with Hamas, whatever this revised new offer was, was all a ruse and theatre,” said Zonszein.

“And of course, there’s no expectation that taking out [Hamas’s] political leadership in Doha is going to be some kind of strategic game changer in Israel’s war on Gaza,” she added.

Other analysts agreed with that perspective.

“Israel has taken its contempt for negotiations, and for international law and respect for [the] sovereignty of states to a new level of transparency,” said Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project and a former Israeli negotiator in the 1990s and early 2000s. “We should have long since been past the point where there was any doubt from any fair-minded person as to whether Israel is negotiating in good faith.”

Qatar reaction

Qatar has long had a role as a regional and international mediator, keeping good relations with both the United States and Iran, for example.

While it does not have relations with Israel, Qatar has hosted Israeli negotiators for ceasefire talks since the start of the war in October 2023, and has previously coordinated with Israel over providing aid to Gaza before the war.

“Qatar is one of the countries that is trying the hardest to calm the situation in Gaza and bring both parties out of the current war … but Israel has not recognised these efforts,” said Abdullah al-Imadi, a writer and journalist based in Doha.

But Qatar has begun to be dragged into the regional violence, with an attack from Iran on the US base at Al Udeid in June – which Iran emphasised was not directed at Qatar – and now the Israeli attack in Doha.

Al-Imadi believes that Qatar will attempt to “draw more international attention to the Israeli regime’s violations of all international laws and conventions” at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in a few days.

Qatar will seek “to mobilise international public opinion to pressure Israel to submit and respect the sovereignty of states”, said al-Imadi.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that he expected officials from Qatar and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council would be “reaching out to their US counterparts to assess reports that the administration greenlit this attack”.

“If accurate, [that] strikes at the very heart of the US-Gulf states security and defence partnership in ways that Iran’s strike on Qatar in June did not,” said Ulrichsen.

Analysts added that regional states needed to come together to push back against Israel.

“Hosting US bases and US military forces was an effective form of deterrence, [but that has] now evaporated,” Bianco said. “The GCC response may be a realisation that the US security guarantees are no longer as valuable as they have been thought to be for so long.”

“No one is actually safe, and nothing is really off the table,” Bianco said. “So of course, it has implications also for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and so on and so forth.”

“Every state in the region should have an interest in ending this impunity because the Israeli Air Force and its bombs are coming to your neighbourhood if you don’t come together to put a stop to this,” said Levy.

“The question should be asked and the choice placed in front of the US: Do you want relations with the rest of the region? Or do you want to indulge Israeli criminality?”