Israel on Tuesday launched an airstrike against leaders of Hamas in Qatar, prompting Doha to warn of a retaliatory strike against the violation of its territory.
The Palestinian group has long maintained a political base in Qatar, which has been acting as mediator in attempts to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas said five of its members were killed in the attack, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. It said Israel had failed in an attempt to assassinate the group’s ceasefire negotiation team. Qatar’s interior ministry said a member of its internal security forces was killed and several others wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes in retaliation to a shooting in Jerusalem a day earlier that killed six people and was claimed by Hamas. The White House said President Donald Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action on the U.S. ally’s soil.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a briefing that the Trump administration was notified by the Pentagon that Israel was attacking Hamas in Qatar “just before” and had no prior knowledge. “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,” she said.
“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar—a sovereign nation and close ally—that is working very hard in 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,” she said, adding Trump had assured Qatar’s emir a similar situation would not happen again.
Qatar condemned the attack as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law. Qatar’s U.N. Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council, has warned it will “not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security.”
Qatar has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old Israeli assault on Gaza. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told reporters his country would continue trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza despite Israel’s attack. “Nothing will deter us from continuing this mediation in the region,” he said, adding U.S. officials had warned Qatar of the Israeli attack 10 minutes after the attack began.
Condemnations
In a statement, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres strongly condemned the Israeli attacks in Qatar, declaring them a clear violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Qatar has played a positive role to achieve a ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” he said. “Everyone must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” he added.
Britain, France and Germany condemned the Israeli airstrikes against Hamas political leaders, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling them “unacceptable regardless of motive” and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer terming them a violation of sovereignty. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also called the Israeli strikes “unacceptable” and stressed on the need for early ceasefire in the Middle East.
In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni said the strikes had breached international law and Qatar’s territorial integrity, risking further escalation of violence in the region.
Italy P.M. Giorgia Meloni offered her country’s support for all efforts to end the war in Gaza. “Italy remains opposed to any form of escalation that could further aggravate the crisis in the Middle East,” she said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a posting on X, condemned the Israeli attack “on behalf of the people and Government of Pakistan as well as on my own behalf.” Declaring the act of aggression “totally unjustified, a brazen violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” he said it constituted a most dangerous provocation that could imperil regional peace and stability.
“Pakistan stands firmly with the State of Qatar, as well as with the people of Palestine against Israel’s aggression,” he said, expressing his solidarity with the emir of Qatar, the Qatari royal family, and the people of Qatar during this “difficult time.”