Israeli military says it attacks Hamas leaders in Qatar’s Doha | Israel-Palestine conflict News

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry slams ‘cowardly’ Israeli attack, condemns it ‘in the strongest terms’.

The Israeli military says explosions seen and heard in the Qatari capital, Doha, are the result of an assassination attempt against Hamas leaders.

Tuesday’s attack is the first by Israel in Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and home to the region’s largest United States military base, Al Udeid Air Base.

Israel has been bombarding Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria as well as carrying out daily attacks in the occupied West Bank in Palestine.

A Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the attack in Doha targeted the Hamas negotiating team. The attack came as the negotiators were meeting to consider the latest ceasefire proposal put forth by the US.

The Israeli military released a statement saying it and the Shin Bet intelligence service “recently carried out a targeted attack on the top leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization”.

“The members of the leadership who were attacked led the terrorist organization’s activities for years, and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and waging the war against the State of Israel”, it added, referring to the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the war in Gaza.

The statement said that before the attack, “steps were taken to minimize harm to uninvolved people, including the use of precision weapons and additional intelligence information.”

In a statement, Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the country “condemns in the strongest terms” the attack, which he said was carried out on residential buildings housing several members of the Hamas political bureau.

“This criminal attack constitutes a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms and a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents of Qatar,” the statement said.

“While strongly condemning this attack, the State of Qatar affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and its continued tampering with regional security, as well as any action targeting its security and sovereignty. Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they become available.”

Residential area targeted

The site of the attack in the Qatari capital is close to a residential neighbourhood – not an isolated area, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Suhaib Al-Assa reported.

Al-Assa said security officials have said their priority was to secure the scene and locate damage and casualties.

“The security procedures are very complex because we are talking about an extremely sensitive site – a site that is very close to residential buildings and people’s homes,” he said.

‘Emboldened’ by Gaza genocide

The strikes in Doha come less than two weeks after Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir pledged to target Hamas leaders wherever they were in the world following a situation assessment meeting with his top commanders.

“Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,” Zamir said on August 31.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said from Doha that the unprecedented attack on the city, which has hosted negotiations for a potential ceasefire in Gaza, reflected how “emboldened” Israel has become “by being able to carry out a genocide and getting away with it”.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the strike in a third country was similar to Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran last year.

The Israeli claims that it took measures to mitigate civilian harm should be taken with a grain of salt, she said, given how many civilians in the Gaza Strip have been killed over the past two years.