Qatar has issued a threat to “retaliate” against Israel following a strike that targeted Hamas leaders, with the nation’s prime minister labeling the event a “decisive moment” for the Middle East.
At a Tuesday news conference, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, as reported by the Qatar-based news organization Al Jazeera, declared that Qatar is committed to responding decisively to any targeting of its territories, reserving the right to retaliate and take all necessary measures.
Al-Thani characterized the strike on Hamas as “state terrorism perpetrated by someone like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
Al-Thani further stated his belief that a “decisive moment” had arrived, calling for regional retaliation against what he termed “barbaric actions” which, he claimed, demonstrated the “barbarism” of the individual leading the region to a state where situations cannot be resolved, nothing repaired, and international laws ignored, with that person simply violating all such laws.
According to Israeli media reports, Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin were identified as two individuals targeted in Tuesday’s explosion that occurred in the Qatari capital.
Al-Hayya had recently participated in negotiations concerning a Gaza Strip ceasefire and the liberation of hostages held by Hamas.
Zaher Jabarin manages Hamas’s financial affairs and plays a significant role in the group’s West Bank operations. He was also reportedly part of the negotiations, though in a less prominent capacity.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Hamas asserted that Israel’s attempt to “assassinate the brothers in the negotiating delegation” was unsuccessful.
The White House disclosed on Tuesday that prior to the strike, President Donald Trump had “immediately directed” his special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to notify Qatar of Israel’s “impending attack.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the Trump administration was informed by the U.S. military that Israel was attacking Hamas, whose presence “very unfortunately” was in a part of Doha, Qatar’s capital. She added that unilateral bombing within Qatar, a sovereign state and close U.S. ally diligently working to broker peace, does not serve the objectives of either Israel or America.
Leavitt clarified that while “eliminating Hamas,” which she said had profited from the suffering of Gazans, was a worthy goal, President Trump had nonetheless “immediately directed special envoy Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack,” a directive which Witkoff fulfilled.
A spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently disputed Leavitt’s comments, asserting that reports “being circulated about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are baseless.”
The Qatari official specified on X that the call from a U.S. official was received precisely “during the sound of explosions caused by the Israeli attack in Doha.”
This report includes contributions from Thomas Ferraro.