DOHA/DUBAI: Israel launched an airstrike against the leaders of arch foe Hamas in Qatar on Tuesday, expanding its wide-ranging military actions in the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said hitting Hamas was a worthy goal, but the United States felt badly about the location of the attack.
Qatar is a key security partner of the United States and host to al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military facility in the Middle East. It has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war in Gaza.
Leavitt told a briefing that the Trump administration was notified by the Pentagon that Israel was attacking Hamas in Qatar “just before” and President Donald Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after it. Leavitt also said the US military was notified “just before the attack”, but did not respond when asked by whom.
“The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar,” Leavitt told the White House briefing.
“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. However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”
Qatar condemned Tuesday’s attack as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law. The assault is likely to deal a serious, if not fatal, blow to the ceasefire efforts, especially since negotiations have often taken place in Qatar.
Hamas said five of its members had been killed in the attack in Doha, including the son of Hamas’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. It said Israel had failed in what Hamas called an attempt to assassinate the group’s ceasefire negotiation team. Earlier, Hamas political bureau member Suhail al-Hindi told Al Jazeera TV that the group’s top leadership had survived the Israeli attack.
Two Hamas sources told Reuters that Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team survived the attack, which followed an evacuation order in Gaza City, where Israel is waging an offensive to try to destroy the group and its military capabilities in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials told Reuters the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Hayya. Israel is still gathering information on the strike and is yet to determine whether any Hamas officials or leaders were killed, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Earlier in Washington, a White House official said Israel had notified the US about the strike beforehand. Trump made a high-profile visit to Qatar in May and stayed at a hotel about 2 km from Tuesday’s attack site.
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