Israeli attack on Doha
On 9 September 2025, during the Gaza war, the Israel Defense Forces conducted an airstrike in the Leqtaifiya district of Qatar's capital Doha, targeting the leadership of Hamas, housed in a Qatari government residential complex, as it met to discuss an active ceasefire proposal presented by the United States. The attack killed and injured Hamas members, Qatari security forces, and multiple civilians. The attack was Israel's first known attack in Qatar, and its first direct strike on a Gulf Cooperation Council member.
According to reports, the intended targets included four senior Hamas figures: Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Ismail Darwish and Khaled Mashal. Those targeted were involved in negotiations for a ceasefire to the Gaza war and an Israeli–Palestinian prisoner–hostage exchange. The Times of Israel reported on 11 September that early security assessments by Israel were that the strike failed to achieve its objective of striking all of the intended Hamas leaders, but said the reports had not been confirmed.
The attack was celebrated by politicians inside Israel, whose government said it was in response to the Ramot Junction shooting the day before. The attack was described by Qatar as an act of state terrorism. It was widely condemned internationally, including by the United Nations Security Council with U.S. backing.
Background
Israel–Qatar relations and support for Hamas
Qatar had been hosting Hamas's political leadership since 2012, when senior figures, including Khaled Mashal—then chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau—relocated from Syria during the Syrian civil war. According to Qatari officials, the move followed a request from the United States to facilitate indirect communication with the group. Qatar also said that Israel itself requested Qatar to host Hamas leaders for the purposes of negotiations. Other senior members based in Doha have included Ismail Haniyeh, Khalil al-Hayya, and Mousa Abu Marzouk. Similarly, Qatar also previously hosted the Taliban in Doha, again at the request of the United States.Concurrently with the above, Qatar had been an important financial backer of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, having transferred more than $1.8 billion to it over the years. Beginning in 2018, Qatar transferred monthly payments of roughly US $30 million to the Gaza Strip in coordination with Israel and the United States. According to Israeli and Qatari officials, these funds were intended for humanitarian purposes, which includes fuel purchases, civil-service salaries, and assistance to low-income families, and were monitored under arrangements approved by the Israeli government. Analysts note that Israel tolerated the transfers to maintain stability in Gaza and avert a humanitarian crisis rather than as political support for Hamas. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the reason for allowing the aid was humanitarian.
U.S. attempt to create Gulf–Israel security alignment
The United States promoted Gulf–Israel security alignment oriented against Iran, involving a regional air defence system that includes Israel. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel in 2020, and Saudi Arabia was close to formally doing the same before October 7. After the 2020 Abraham Accords, regional geopolitical planning centered on connecting Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries within a wider India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor. The concept, developed alongside initiatives such as I2U2, the Negev Summit, and the Atlantic Council's N7 Initiative, had aimed to establish transport and trade links from India through Gulf states and Israel to Europe. The corridor's viability depended on sustained political cooperation between Gulf capitals and Israel. But after October 7 and Israel's ensuing response, Israel's conduct of the Gaza war made Israel unpopular with Arab populations. Additionally, Gulf rulers feared entanglement in Israel's conflict with Iran and allied groups, as with Qatar, which suffered the 2025 Iranian strikes on Al Udeid Air Base, in the wake of the US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites during the June 2025 Iran–Israel war. Israel's full US-brokered security alignment with the GCC—and therefore with Qatar—did not occur. Consequently, Qatar had no formal security guarantees or defensive pacts that might have served as a material deterrent, because the existing GCC-only coordinated defense instrument, the Peninsula Shield Force, was mostly notional, while any U.S. security guarantee had only been "implicit in deals done and memoranda signed".Israel's vow to kill all Hamas leaders
The Israeli government has publicly acknowledged its a policy of targeted killings of members of Palestinian militant organizations since at least 2001. Khalil al-Hayya, a reported target of this air strike, was previously targeted by a 2007 assassination attempt, which killed at least seven of his family members. His home in Gaza was struck by an airstrike in the 2014 Gaza War.Following the October 7 attacks in 2023 which started the Gaza war, Israel vowed to kill all Hamas leaders. Israel has, however, participated in mediated negotiations with Hamas, through Qatar, which has since the start of the war hosted negotiations in Doha, maintaining contacts with both sides; senior Israeli officials have travelled to the emirate repeatedly to discuss the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Following the 2024 assassination of Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, and the killing of Yahya Sinwar, al-Hayya—a founding member of Hamas and its chief negotiator—became one of five members of the newly formed "temporary committee", a provisional top decision-making body whose other members are Mashal, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, and a fifth unknown member.
On 31 August 2025, IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir stated that Israel was seeking to kill Hamas officials across the Middle East, telling reserve soldiers that "Hamas will have no place to hide from us" and that all figures, senior or junior, would be struck wherever found.
Qatar-mediated negotiations during the Gaza war
During the Gaza war, Qatar hosted Hamas diplomats and was successful in brokering a ceasefire twice—the first time in 2023. In November 2024, Hamas members left Qatar for Turkey, after the United States asked Qatar to expel the Hamas members in response to a breakdown in negotiations over the ceasefire. Another ceasefire took place in early 2025, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States; it ended with the March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.The negotiations then stalled during the summer, with Israel rejecting a ceasefire plan by Egypt and Qatar, that would have entailed a release of half of the Hamas-held hostages; namely, Israel demanded the release of all remaining hostages, numbering 20, and the return of all bodies that Israel treats as hostages. Concurrently with this rejection of the ceasefire plan, Israel began a full ground invasion of Gaza City. According to an analysis by The Washington Post, as the decision to launch the invasion was nearing, Netanyahu may have decided to forgo further negotiations, seeing them as limiting his freedom to pursue the military path. Netanyahu was publicly stating that this course of action was "the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily".
On 7 September, Hamas announced it was ready to "immediately sit at the negotiating table" after receiving, via mediators, what it described as "some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement". According to a Palestinian official, the United States plan envisaged freeing the remaining 48 hostages in the first 48 hours of a 60‑day truce in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and negotiations on a permanent ceasefire. On 8 September, Hamas representatives met Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to discuss the U.S. proposal, with plans to reconvene the following day.
Prelude
With the negotiations stalled, Mossad prepared a plan for a covert ground operation to assassinate the Hamas leaders, but the agency's director David Barnea ultimately opposed its execution, worrying that it would damage Mossad's cooperation with Qatar—whose function as a mediator Barnea and Mossad saw as valuable. Barnea's stance reflected dissent in the Israeli security establishment over Netanyahu's timing considering that the location would be in a U.S. ally's territory, and that Hamas leaders were considering the new, U.S.-brokered hostages-for-ceasefire proposal; looking at the success of the covert assassination of Ismail Haniyeh the year prior, some in the establishment argued Mossad could eliminate leaders covertly at a time and place of Israel's choosing. However, a decision was made to kill Hamas leaders in an airstrike instead.The operation was reportedly codenamed Atzeret HaDin. The name alludes to the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Israel stated the attack was a response to the October 7 attacks and the Ramot Junction shooting the previous day.
Two days prior, U.S. president Donald Trump issued what he described as his "last warning" to Hamas, urging the group to agree to a hostage release deal, stating "the Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!"
After the attack a senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that Trump had approved it.
Agence France-Presse reported that an anonymous White House official stated "we were informed in advance" regarding the strike on Qatar, a U.S. ally and host to a major U.S. military base. The Qatari foreign ministry, however, stated that Qatar had not been informed in advance, noting that "the communication received from one of the U.S. officials came during the sound of explosions."