Against the backdrop of a series of condemnations of the Israeli strike on Tuesday afternoon against a building in Qatar hosting a meeting of Hamas leaders, several Arab capitals sent urgent messages to both Washington and Tel Aviv this week warning against further Israeli attacks targeting Hamas leaders in countries they might be residing in or visiting.
“The strike came as a total shock, and it is clear that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has decided to cross every red line in the book,” commented an Egyptian official who asked for his name to be withheld.
He added that “judging by the statements that Netanyahu made after the strike, it becomes clear that the strike against the Hamas leaders in Doha might be just the beginning and not a one-off operation.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Israel announced that it had conducted an aerial military strike against a building in Doha where top Hamas leaders were meeting. Despite leaks to the Israeli press that at least two Hamas leaders were killed in the strike, Qatar said that only two security guards had died and that the Hamas leaders had survived.
However, there was speculation about the fate of Khalil Al-Hayya, one of the most influential leaders of Hamas since Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July last year and Yahya Al-Sinwar in October last year.
A source close to Hamas said on Tuesday evening that Al-Hayya, thought to be the one who calls the shots on the US proposal for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, is “alive and well”. The source declined to say whether Al-Hayya was hurt during the Israeli raid.
It was not immediately clear how the Hamas leaders had survived the targeted attack. Nor was it clear where the Hamas leaders would be staying or heading to following the attack.
What was clear, however, is that all the capitals that are hosting Hamas leaders either temporarily or permanently have asked their guests to follow a set of security measures to avoid being subject to any further attacks.
An informed source said that there are no guarantees about how far Netanyahu will go in his pursuit of Hamas leaders. “There is no guarantee of where he will stop, and there is no telling if he will resort to the old Israeli tactics of assassination on the ground as he did with Haniyeh,” the source said.
In press statements following the announcement of the strike, Netanyahu said that he had ordered his military and intelligence aids to execute operations against Hamas leaders whom he holds responsible for the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation that was conducted on 7 October 2023 against targets in southern Israel.
The Israeli strike against Hamas targets in Doha prompted immediate condemnations from across the world, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying that the strike was a “flagrant violation of sovereignty”.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit “condemned in the strongest terms the attack launched and claimed by Israel against civilian residential buildings in Doha, the capital of the State of Qatar.”
In Egypt, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said that Israel must be held accountable for its violation of state sovereignty and international law. Similar condemnations were made in Riyadh, Amman, and Abu Dhabi.
Iran and Turkey also condemned the attack, with Ankara saying that it showed that Israel has no intention of ending the war.
Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jassem Al-Budaiwi said that the group stands firmly behind Doha and against this violation of its sovereignty.
Doha, which at first reacted in a measured way to the strike, did not immediately say how it would react further, especially since it was made clear that Washington had been notified of the strike ahead of its execution.
However, it announced that it would be suspending its mediation efforts in the war. Doha, along with Egypt and the US, is working to bring about a truce to end, temporarily or permanently, the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza.
According to a regional diplomat, the issue for Doha is complicated because there is no telling whether Israel will try to target Hamas leaders in Qatar again.
Qatar was one of the first Arab Gulf countries to start trade relations with Israel. It also hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East. It has been involved in many track-two diplomacy talks to facilitate the pursuit of a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
Since the Hamas leaders exited their previous safe residence in Syria, after the group’s refusal to condemn the pro-democracy protests against former Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad in 2011, it has been the base for many top Hamas leaders.
Al Jazeera, the Qatari satellite TV channel, has been influential in projecting a clear narrative on the Israeli war on Gaza. According to a source at Al Jazeera in Doha late last week, Qatar has decided to introduce new editorial parameters to the channel’s coverage to accommodate repeated US complaints about the “anti-Israeli sentiment that has been projected through Al- Jazeera since the beginning of the war.”
According to three diplomatic sources who spoke in the wake of the announcement of the strike, it was not clear whether Qatar would ask its fellow GCC members, the UAE and Bahrain, which both have diplomatic relations with Israel, to suspend these relations.
One of the diplomats said it was unlikely that Qatar would ask the UAE and Bahrain to suspend their relations with Israel.
However, the three diplomats said that the Israeli strike against the Hamas leaders in Doha that took place while the leaders were consulting on the US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a clear indication that Netanyahu is not interested in a ceasefire or regaining the remaining Israeli captives who have been held in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
The Israeli press reported that the Netanyahu’s decision to order the strike was not subject to the consent of top security and military leaders in Israel, who had warned of the possible consequences, especially if the Hamas leaders were killed, on the lives of the hostages in Gaza.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, Hamas said that the strike and the threats against its leaders would not change its position on the requirements for a ceasefire.
An informed Egyptian source said on the same evening that the Israeli strike against the Hamas leaders in Doha indicated that Netanyahu is going to increase the pressure on the Palestinians in Gaza to leave their land.
He added that Cairo has tried very hard to “talk sense” to Israel but to no avail.
“Netanyahu is now going to move towards forcing all the Gazans to move to the southernmost part of the Strip in a bid to force them out through Egypt,” he said.
“Egypt will do what it takes to protect its national security and prevent any disorderly flow of refugees across its borders.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 11 September, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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