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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Israel strikes Hamas leadership in Qatar in unprecedented attack. | |
Here’s what to know | |
By Helen Regan, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:33 AM EDT, Wed September 10, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Israel launched a series of strikes in the Qatari capital Tuesday, in | |
an inside the territory of an important US ally and key mediator in the | |
Gaza ceasefire talks. | |
Israel took the unusual step of swiftly claiming responsibility for the | |
strikes saying it was part of an operation dubbed “Summit of Fire.” | |
Hamas said six people were killed, including five of its members but | |
the strike the negotiating delegation. | |
Several nations have condemned the attack, with Qatar calling the | |
strikes “state terrorism.” US President Donald Trump said he was | |
Israel’s latest attack on the soil of another nation has threatened | |
to derail renewed ceasefire talks as well as efforts to secure the | |
release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Hamas captivity. The | |
strike came hours after Israel ordered the complete evacuation of Gaza | |
City, where thousands of people are living in conditions, ahead of its | |
planned military takeover. | |
Here’s what to know. | |
What happened? | |
Israel’s strikes in Doha hit the upscale residential neighbourhood of | |
West Bay Lagoon that, according to Qatar’s foreign ministry | |
spokesperson, housed several members of the Hamas political bureau. | |
Hamas leaders have openly used the Qatari capital as a headquarters | |
outside of Gaza for years, and at the time the militant group said its | |
negotiators were reviewing a recent ceasefire proposal backed by Trump. | |
One of the main targets of the strike was Hamas’ chief negotiator | |
Khalil Al-Hayya, but he was not listed among the dead. | |
Five Hamas officials were killed in the strike, including Al-Hayya’s | |
son and the director of his office, the group said. A Qatari security | |
official died in the strike as well. | |
The attack was and involved more than 10 fighter jets which fired more | |
than 10 munitions, Israeli sources told CNN. Qatar’s Prime Minister | |
said that Israel used weapons that went undetected by radar. | |
The jets required mid-air refueling for the long-range strike, an | |
Israeli official said, and they all struck a single target in Doha. | |
Why was the attack controversial? | |
The nature of the attack was unprecedented. | |
Qatar has long history of being neutral territory for thorny diplomatic | |
negotiations, including hosting an office for the Afghan Taliban during | |
secretive talks with the US. | |
The emirate is one of only two regional mediators leading the sole | |
diplomatic track trying to bring an end to the war in Gaza and the | |
release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. It maintains direct channels | |
with the US, Israel and Hamas and has hosted countless rounds of | |
negotiations. | |
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari of the strike, | |
calling reports that suggested otherwise “baseless.” | |
Israel’s strikes on Qatar are the first known attack by Israel on a | |
Gulf Arab state. CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk was “against | |
a location known to the US and Israel in the capital of a country that | |
works closely with both.” | |
Qatar is also host to the largest US base in the Middle East and has | |
enjoyed a very strong relationship with the US for decades. | |
The attack could have a chilling effect in the region and raises | |
concerns that if a close US ally, such as Qatar, can come under attack | |
by another US ally Israel, who might be next? | |
What will this mean for ceasefire talks and hostages? | |
Israel’s strike threatens to derail negotiations to end the war in | |
Gaza which, according to some sources, were reaching an inflection | |
point. | |
A top Qatari diplomat, Hamad Al-Muftah, said the strike was “clearly | |
designed to ” in the enclave. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed | |
bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said the attack has changed the | |
landscape of current ceasefire talks. | |
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it brings the mediation to a | |
standstill,” Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow for Middle East Policy at | |
the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told CNN. | |
Hamas said that the strike would not change its demands for a ceasefire | |
deal. | |
This weekend, which Israel has accepted. | |
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said family members | |
were following developments in Doha “with deep concern and heavy | |
anxiety.” The mother of one Israeli hostage said the strike could | |
serve as a death sentence for her son. | |
What has the US said? | |
President Trump has sought to distance himself from Israel’s attack | |
in Qatar. The White House initially said the decision was made by | |
Israel’s leader and that the US learned of it too late to intervene. | |
Trump was informed of the strike only shortly before it began — and | |
not by Israel itself, but by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, | |
according to a US official. | |
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said attacking inside Qatar “does | |
not advance Israel or America’s goals.” | |
But the US president did not explicitly condemn the attack. | |
“I’m not thrilled about the whole situation. It’s not a good | |
situation. But I will say this, we want the hostages back, but we are | |
not thrilled about the way that went down,” Trump told reporters this | |
evening outside Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in | |
Washington, DC. | |
How has the world reacted? | |
Qatar’s Prime Minister Al-Thani was as he described the attack, which | |
he called “state terrorism.” He said his country’s tradition of | |
diplomacy “won’t be deterred,” but implied that current talks on | |
Gaza have an uncertain path. | |
“This attack and this targeting has surpassed not just international | |
law but moral standards,” Al-Thani said. | |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, portrayed the | |
attack as a that “can open the door to an end of the war in Gaza.” | |
His office earlier clarified that the strike was “a Israeli | |
operation.” | |
Globally – and in stark contrast to the US response – Israel is | |
facing growing backlash. | |
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, as did | |
several and Asian nations. Numerous Arab countries also warned such | |
attacks could . Vice President of the Palestinian Authority Hussein Al | |
Sheikh said the strike “constitutes a serious and Qatar’s | |
sovereignty.” | |
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Israel’s attack on Doha | |
“directly imperil” efforts to advance peace and security in the | |
region. | |
What does this mean for Gaza? | |
With a ceasefire agreement now on rocky ground, Israel continues to | |
push ahead with its , in defiance of domestic and international | |
opposition. | |
The strikes came as Israel on Tuesday ordered a complete evacuation of | |
Gaza City, home to around a million Palestinians, ahead of its planned | |
military takeover which it said is key to defeating Hamas. | |
Palestinians in Gaza City are facing further mass displacement as | |
starvation rapidly spreads through the densely-populated city. | |
The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has warned that an Israeli | |
escalation in Gaza City would lead to “more massive forced | |
displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless | |
destruction and atrocity crimes.” | |
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