Israel strikes Hamas leadership in Qatar, which had been mediating a ceasefire in Gaza

The fate of about 20 hostages believed to still be alive in Gaza, and around 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, hang in the balance after the strike.

The families of hostages called for an end to the war, saying they were following the developments in Doha with “deep concern and heavy anxiety.”

“The chance of bringing them back now faces greater uncertainty than ever before, with one thing of absolute certainty — their time is running out,” they said in a statement.

A senior Qatari official directly involved in the talks told NBC News that Qatar is assessing whether negotiations will continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “wholly independent Israeli operation.”

“Israel takes full responsibility,” he said in a statement on X.

According to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter and a senior White House official, the Israeli government notified the U.S. that it was about to strike senior Hamas leadership. The officials said the U.S. did not have a lot of notice and made it clear that America was not directly involved.

Roughly 10,000 U.S. forces are stationed in Qatar at the Al Udeid Air Base, which was hit by Iran earlier this year in retaliation for the U.S bombing of its nuclear facilities.

The attack followed Trump’s warning to Hamas on Sunday to agree a proposed ceasefire deal that he said had been accepted by Israel.

“This is my last warning, there will not be another one!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the post was not in reference to the bombing in Doha. She also read a statement during the briefing that said Trump was informed of the impending bombing by the U.S. military.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States, that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” Leavitt said.

Trump feels “very badly” about the location of the strike, but the statement added that eliminating Hamas was a “worthy goal.” She reaffirmed that Trump views Qatar as a friend to the U.S. and that he wants the war to end.

She added that Trump immediately directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar of the incoming bombing, but a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry denied that it had notice.

A joint statement from Netanyahu’s office and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the attack on Hamas as a retaliation for “murderous attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza.” On Monday, two gunmen opened fire at a Jerusalem bus stop killing six people.

Hamas took responsibility for the shootings shortly before the strike on Doha.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, denied that they received notice of the attack and told reporters the first call they received was 10 minutes after the bombing occurred. He described Israel’s actions as “treachery” as the country used weapons that were not detectable by radar.

Qatar’s emir asked for a legal team to evaluate all potential responses and retaliation, with the security of the Qatari civilians as its top priority, Al Thani said.

The prime minister accused Israel of working to obstruct a deal and asked whether there was any clearer message who the bully of the region was. Al Thani was critical of Netanyahu, accusing him of destabilizing the region for his own personal goals.

Part of Qatari diplomacy is mediation, Al Thani said, and Qatar will never stop its work as a mediator until there is stability in the region.

“Now, when it comes to the current talks, I don’t think there is something valid right now” after “such an attack happening like this,” Al Thani said.

‘Cowardly’ attack

The Qatari government condemned what it called a “cowardly Israeli attack.”

“This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar,” the government said in a statement.

It said “it will not tolerate this reckless and irresponsible Israeli behavior, which continuously undermines the region’s security, or any action targeting its security and sovereignty.”

The bombing was also condemned by the United Arab Emirates, which had seen a significant warming of ties with Israel in the last few years with the President Donald Trump-mediated Abraham Accords.

The UAE’s Foreign Affairs Ministry called the bombing of Hamas’ so-called bureau of political affairs “a dangerous assault on international law” and an “irresponsible escalation.”

Saudi Arabia, a regional power that Israel has sought to establish official relations with, also condemned the attack as “brutal.”

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the bombing as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and said it risks further escalation.

“The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a huge surge in aid into Gaza,” Starmer wrote in a post on X.

The U.S. Embassy issued a shelter-in-place order for their facilities after “reports of missile strikes occurring in Doha.”

This is the second time this year Qatar was hit with a strike as it plays the intermediary in the region’s larger geopolitical conflict. Iran hit a U.S. military base in Qatar in June after Israel conducted strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites.

Attacks have rained down across the Middle East since Oct. 7, 2023, when a Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and abducted around 250 others.

Since then, Israeli forces has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave, driven most residents from their homes and destroyed most of the area’s infrastructure.

Tuesday’s bombings follow a pattern, with Israel striking two other Iranian-backed militias in the region, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, both of which launched attacks on Israel or those believed to be supporting Israel after Oct. 7.

Lebanon paid the price for Hezbollah’s support after Israel targeted its leadership in Beirut and southern Lebanon. Last year, Israel killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a large strike in the suburbs of Beirut.

This sparked a war between Hezbollah and Israel, with thousands of civilians displaced in the areas in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

In another marked escalation, Israel defended its attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in June as an effort to stop the “existential threat” of an Islamic Republic armed with nuclear weapons. The unprecedented strikes sparked a brief but high-stakes exchange of fire between Iran and Israel this summer.

Israel’s military last week warned residents of Gaza City to leave toward a designated “humanitarian zone” as it intensified military operations in the northern Gaza area. A famine was officially declared in Gaza City last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification following a rise in starvation deaths and months of aid being blocked from the enclave.