Spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry slams ‘criminal’ 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, which hosts US troops.
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 media 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.
Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has told media that the Hamas leadership has survived Israel’s “cowardly assassination attempt” in the Qatari capital. But he confirmed that a number of people were killed in the bombing, including the son and office manager of Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya.
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.
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.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a statement, saying the action “against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation”.
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility,” said the statement.
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 interior ministry said that the attack resulted in “the martyrdom of Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), while performing his duties at the targeted site”. Several security personnel were also injured, it said in a statement.
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.
Qatar condemns ‘criminal attack’
“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.”
He said Qatar has been playing a very positive role to try and achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of captives held by Hamas.
“All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it,” he said.
All of the key Gulf states and several other Arab nations have also issued strong statements condemning the attack.
Speaking from Doha, where police have cordoned off the area surrounding the attack, media’s Charles Stratford said the strike was a shocking development in Qatar, which was known as a safe and secure country.
The strike had occurred in a quiet, residential neighbourhood with many foreign embassies.
“Qatar is known around the world for the level of security that people here enjoy,” he said.
“The explosions were heard ringing out across the city… There are a lot of very nervous, very worried people across this country as we speak.”
media Arabic correspondent Suhaib 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.
Sultan Barakat, a professor at Doha’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said he was eating lunch when he heard the blasts.
He told media that the latest strikes would further entrench Israel’s reputation as an international pariah state that was acting outside international norms.
