{"id":213968,"date":"2025-09-09T22:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/213968\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T22:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:42:13","slug":"israel-strikes-hamas-qatar-based-leadership-awaits-result-hamas-claims-attack-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/213968\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel strikes Hamas Qatar-based leadership, awaits result; Hamas claims attack failed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bold Israeli airstrike targeted a meeting of Hamas\u2019s top leaders in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha, on Tuesday, as they were said to be gathered to discuss a new US-sponsored hostage-ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the war in Gaza, with reports differing as to whether the attack was successful.<\/p>\n

Israel was said to be \u201cincreasingly optimistic\u201d about the results of the strike, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said<\/a> could open the door to the immediate end of the war. Hamas, by contrast, said the strike had been a failure.<\/p>\n

The gathering was believed to include all of the terror group\u2019s top leadership outside Gaza, including the leader of Hamas\u2019s Gaza units, Khalil al-Hayya; Zaher Jabarin, who leads Hamas in the West Bank; Muhammad Darwish, the head of Hamas\u2019s Shura Council; Nizar Awadallah, and Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas abroad.<\/p>\n

While Israel confirmed the strike, dubbed \u201cOperation Summit of Fire\u201d by the Israel Defense Forces, and awaited the outcome, an official statement published by Hamas said that five people had been killed, but insisted none were members of the group\u2019s senior leadership cadre.<\/p>\n

The terror group said the dead were Himam al-Hayya, son of Khalil al-Hayya; Jihad Labad Abu Bilal, Khalil al-Hayya\u2019s office director; and three \u201cassociates\u201d \u2014 apparently bodyguards or advisers to senior Hamas officials \u2014 Abdullah Abu Khalil, Muaman Abu Omar, and Ahmad Abu Malek.<\/p>\n

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Qatar said one member of its security forces was also killed.<\/p>\n

Hamas said the attack took place as the terror group\u2019s delegation was discussing the US proposal, and asserted this showed Netanyahu\u2019s government is \u201cnot interested in reaching any agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said, however, that Israel had targeted a leadership that had planned and celebrated the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, and urged Gazans<\/a>: \u201cMake peace with us, and accept President Trump\u2019s proposal. Don\u2019t worry, you can do it\u2026 But you\u2019ve got to take these people out of the way. If you do, there is no limit to our common future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite claiming that Israel had failed in the operation, Hamas offered no immediate proof that its top leaders had survived.\u00a0The terror group has been known in the past to only confirm the death of its leaders weeks or months after the fact.<\/p>\n

Most of Hamas\u2019s leadership in Gaza has been killed during the past two years of war with Israel, but until now, its political leadership abroad has been mostly untouched. Notable exceptions were former politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated on a visit to Iran, and his former deputy Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in Beirut, both in 2024.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This frame grab taken from an AFPTV footage shows smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in Doha\u2019s capital Qatar on September 9, 2025. (Photo by Jacqueline PENNEY \/ AFPTV \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Explosions in Doha<\/p>\n

The first reports of the blasts emerged at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, when eyewitnesses reported hearing several explosions in the Qatari capital, and smoke was seen rising over the city\u2019s Katara District.<\/p>\n

Reuters eyewitness said plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing from the city\u2019s Legtifya gas station.\u00a0Next door to the station is a small residential compound that has been guarded by Qatar\u2019s emiri guard 24 hours a day since the beginning of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Shortly after reports of the strike began to circulate, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed that they had targeted Hamas\u2019s leadership in Doha with a strike carried out by the Israeli Air Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe members of the leadership who were struck led the terror organization\u2019s activities for years, and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and waging the war against the State of Israel,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The military said it had taken steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using precision munitions and other intelligence.<\/p>\n

More than 10 IAF fighter jets dropped over 10 munitions in the strike, according to military officials, and all hit the target building within seconds.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A damaged building in Qatar after an Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas\u2019s leadership on September 9, 2025 (Screencapture\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

In Israel, the office of Netanyahu said in an English-language statement that the strike had been an entirely Israeli operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,\u201d wrote the PMO. \u201cIsrael initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Israeli media initially reported that US President Donald Trump was aware of the planned strike ahead of time and had given his blessing for it to go ahead \u2014 despite Qatar being a close US ally and home to the largest US airbase in the Middle East \u2014 an official White House statement told a different story.<\/p>\n

Reading out a statement several hours after the strike, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Israel for \u201cunilaterally 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not advance Israel\u2019s or America\u2019s goals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A senior Qatari official similarly panned Israel for striking Hamas as it was discussing the ceasefire and hostage deal proposal submitted by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamas received the new US proposal from us, which we obtained from Witkoff last week in Paris. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Hamas negotiators yesterday,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe Hamas delegation then decided to meet again today to discuss the proposal, traveling from Turkey to Qatar where the strike took place.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that any hope of reaching a deal to end the bitter fighting in Gaza had once again been \u201cundermined\u201d by Israel, \u201cfurther prolonging the war and complicating efforts to bring back the hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli strike on Hamas leaders, in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (UGC via AP)<\/p>\n

The US-crafted proposal that Hamas was discussing at the time of the strike reportedly envisions the terror group releasing all remaining hostages within the first 48 hours in exchange for an assurance from the US that Israel would not subsequently resume the war, along with the release of several thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Israel would be expected to withdraw gradually from Gaza in the first days of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

An official briefed on the talks told Reuters on Monday that Qatar\u2019s al-Thani was pushing the terror group\u2019s leadership to \u201crespond positively\u201d to the proposal.<\/p>\n

Who did Israel target<\/p>\n

The Hamas officials targeted in Israel\u2019s attack are the most senior figures the group has left, as its leadership has steadily been whittled down by Israel over the past two years of war.<\/p>\n

Al-Hayya has been the head of Hamas\u2019s operations in Gaza since the assassination of his predecessor Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023 slaughter, in 2024. Prior to that, he had served as Sinwar\u2019s deputy.<\/p>\n

He became the public face of Hamas\u2019s leadership following Haniyeh\u2019s death that same year, and has resided in Qatar since he left the Gaza Strip shortly before the October 7 assault. He is a key player in ceasefire negotiations, and has headed multiple delegations to Egypt over the past two years for this purpose.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamas political bureau chief Khalil al-Hayya, left, seen in Tehran on February 8, 2025. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Mashaal, the leader of Hamas abroad, is the former head of the organization, having filled the position between 1995 and 2017, at which point he was replaced by Haniyeh, amid reports of his declining influence within the movement.<\/p>\n

In 1997, Israeli Mossad agents made a failed bid to poison Khaled Mashaal in Jordan, but were forced to deliver the antidote after Jordan\u2019s then-king Hussein threatened to void the still-fresh peace treaty between Jerusalem and Amman.<\/p>\n

His net worth is estimated to be around $5 billion.<\/p>\n

Jabarin also found himself rising through the terror group\u2019s ranks in the wake of Israeli assassinations, having been appointed to lead Hamas in the West Bank after his predecessor al-Arouri was assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon, in January 2024.<\/p>\n

Jabarin has lived abroad since 2011, when he was released from prison in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, which was in part negotiated by Awadallah. In recent years, he has reportedly spent most of his time in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Darwish, who leads Hamas\u2019s Shura Council, the body tasked with advising Hamas leadership on strategic matters, has lived his whole life abroad, having been born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Little is known about Darwish\u2019s activities within the terror group, although he has headed several delegations during recent ceasefire and hostage release deals.<\/p>\n

Awadallah, a negotiator in the Shalit deal, has lived abroad since the October 7 onslaught, but originally hails from Gaza City. He was arrested by Israel in 1989 and served six years in prison. Upon his release, he kept a low profile for roughly a decade, before becoming active in the group again in the mid-2000s, this time in the political branch.<\/p>\n

Strike comes after deadly Jerusalem shooting<\/p>\n

The attack on Hamas\u2019s leadership in Doha came shortly after Hamas\u2019s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday. Six people were killed when a pair of Palestinian terrorists opened fire on vehicles and pedestrians in Ramot Junction.<\/p>\n

The strike in Doha was a direct response to the Jerusalem shooting, as well as to a deadly attack on an Israeli tank in northern Gaza, also on Monday, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu told security agencies on Monday night to prepare for a strike on Hamas leaders abroad, and Katz had \u201cfully supported the move,\u201d the two said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

L-R: Defense Minister Israel Katz, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu\u2019s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, and acting Shin Bet head \u201cMem\u201d are seen at the agency\u2019s command center during strikes on Hamas in Qatar, September 9, 2025. (Shin Bet)<\/p>\n

An \u201coperational opportunity\u201d was identified at noon on Tuesday, the statement added, and the IDF and Shin Bet received the green light to go ahead with the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister and defense minister believed the operation was fully justified, given that this Hamas leadership was the one that initiated and organized the October 7 massacre,\u201d Netanyahu and Katz said, \u201cand has since continued to carry out murderous attacks against Israel and its citizens, including taking responsibility for the murder of our civilians in yesterday\u2019s attack in Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel has long threatened to strike Hamas leaders wherever they are, and not just stick to eliminating those within the Gaza Strip itself.<\/p>\n

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reiterated that warning as he authorized Tuesday\u2019s strike, saying that Israel would \u201csettle accounts\u201d with its enemies anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the terrorists whose only aspiration was to be the spearhead for the destruction of the State of Israel. We will continue to carry out this mission everywhere, at any range, near and far, in order to settle accounts with our enemies,\u201d he told the Israeli Air Force pilots who set out to carry out the strike, according to a readout published by the IDF.<\/p>\n

\u05f4We are settling a moral and ethical account on behalf of all the victims of October 7. We will not rest and we will not be silent until we bring back our hostages and defeat Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bold Israeli airstrike targeted a meeting of Hamas\u2019s top leaders in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha, on Tuesday, as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":213969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-213968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115176757377943426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}