Qatar digs through the rubble of Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha

Qatari security forces and emergency fire personnel have deployed around the site of an Israeli attack on Hamas’s political leaders who had gathered in the capital of the Middle East country to consider a US proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday’s strike on a building in Doha killed at least six people in a neighbourhood that is home to foreign embassies and schools.

The strike on the territory of a US ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Middle East and beyond.

It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

An Israeli official said at least 10 bombs were used in the raid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he had made the decision on Monday to carry out the strike.

The official did not know how long the mission had been planned, but said the timing was connected to “operational opportunity” — with Israel knowing that many Hamas officials would be gathered in an area relatively easy to hit without threatening Qatari civilians.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, called out Mr Netanyahu over the attack.

“Such hostile behaviour reflects only the barbarism of Netanyahu,” the minister said while consoling the family of a Qatari security official killed in Israel’s strike, according to the Foreign Ministry.

He added that Mr Netanyahu “was pushing the region towards irreparable instability, undermining international laws and frameworks”.

Sheikh Mohammed also “criticised Mr Netanyahu for previously declaring intentions to reshape the Middle East, questioning whether this was also meant as a threat to reshape the Arabian Gulf”, the statement said.

From a distance beyond the security cordon, the buildings that had housed the Hamas leadership in Doha could be seen still standing. But one room in particular appeared to have been the target of the strike — its walls had collapsed, and grey rubble could be seen inside.

Security forces and emergency personnel surrounded the site and blocked traffic.

A fuel station to one side did not appear to have suffered any fire damage. The windows of the building next to the one targeted remained intact.

Israel has not specified what it used to carry out the strike, beyond saying it employed precision-guided weapons meant to minimise collateral damage.

Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya — Hamas’s leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — as well as three bodyguards and the head of Mr al-Hayya’s office.

Hamas, which has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that Mr al-Hayya and other senior figures had survived.

Qatar maintains a major arsenal of air defence systems, including both American-made Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) batteries. However, it did not immediately appear that Qatari air defences engaged during the attack, which occurred just before 4pm on Tuesday.

Sheikh Mohammed said on Tuesday that “the Israeli enemy used weapons that were not detected by radar”.

He did not elaborate but the statement suggests Israeli fighter jets could have launched so-called “stand-off” missiles at a distance to strike the site without actually entering Qatari airspace.

The United States has said it warned Qatar before the strike. Qatar disputes that, with Sheikh Mohammed saying that “the Americans sent a message 10 minutes after the attacks took place, saying they were informed that there was going to be a missile attack on the state of Qatar”.

Qatar is also home to the US military’s forward headquarters for its Middle East-based Central Command. The headquarters, located at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base, also has American-run radars and defence systems and recently hosted US President Donald Trump on his tour of the region in May.

Qatar’s advisory Shura Council condemned what it described as a “criminal, treacherous and cowardly attack” which it said “represents a flagrant and ongoing breach of all international laws and norms”.

Israel’s attack in Qatar threatens to upend both negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel’s efforts to reach out to Gulf Arab states, New York-based think tank the Soufan Centre said in an analysis on Wednesday.

“The attack has profound strategic implications because by striking a Gulf Co-operation Council state, Israel risks undermining the Abraham Accords and unravelling the fragile normalisation framework with Arab partners”, the centre said, referring to the 2020 diplomatic recognition deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

“Israel’s strike on Qatar raises the uncomfortable question: if a state like Qatar, with its carefully cultivated neutrality and commitment to peacemaking, is punished for its role, who will dare step into the vacuum of mediation in the future?” the centre asked.

The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, travelled on Wednesday to Qatar in a visit that likely underscores the growing unease the Emirates feels with Israel.

In recent days, the UAE warned Israel that any effort to annex the West Bank, part of land the Palestinians want for their future state, would be a “red line” that would threaten the Abraham Accords.

Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, welcomed Sheikh Mohammed. The two leaders had been on opposite sides of a political dispute for years during the first Trump administration that saw the UAE and three other nations boycott Doha.

The state-run Qatar News Agency said Sheikh Tamim held a series of calls with world leaders, including Mr Trump.

Sheikh Tamim condemned the attack and according to a readout of the call, said that Qatar holds Israel “responsible for its repercussions, in light of the policy of aggression they adopt that threatens the region’s stability and obstructs efforts to de-escalate and reach sustainable diplomatic solutions”.