Donald Trump has hit out at Israel's air strike on Qatar that killed five members of Hamas as its delegation prepared for talks to try to end the conflict in Gaza.
The White House admitted the US President felt 'very bad' about the attack, with his press secretary Karoline Leavitt adding that the incident 'does not advance Israel or America's goals'.
Mr Trump said on Tuesday night the US military informed his administration that Israel was attacking Qatar.
He posted: 'I immediately directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack.
'I view Qatar as a strong ally and friend and feel very badly about the location of the attack. I want ALL of the hostages, and bodies of the dead, released, and this War to END, NOW!'
Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani said the US warned his country of Israel's attack ten minutes after it began.
He also said his country 'reserves the right' to respond to Israel's 'blatant attack', which is a 'pivotal moment' for region.
The UK was not notified of the action – and Keir Starmer condemned the rocket attacks on Tuesday, saying they 'violate Qatar's sovereignty and risk further escalation across the region'.
He added: 'The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and a huge surge in aid into Gaza.'
Israeli jets flew 1,500 miles and penetrated Qatar's airspace with several blasts being heard in the capital Doha on Tuesday.
A residential building where the Hamas group was staying was struck many times, sending smoke billowing into the sky.
Hamas said five of its members, including the son of leader Khalil Al-Hayya, were killed in the airstrikes. A member of the Qatari security services also died.
The terrorist group added that Israel had failed to 'assassinate' any of its leadership - and said it was holding the United States 'jointly responsible' for the attack.
In response, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile into Israel - with the IDF saying on Tuesday evening its defence systems were 'operating to intercept' a strike.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 'Hamas, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha.
'Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the US that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America's goals.'
Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, urged Gazans to accept Trump's peace plan, just hours after his country's attack on the Hamas negotiators.
He also warned that terrorist leaders were no longer immune anywhere - as he said Israel had delivered 'great blows to axis of evil'.
Netanyahu said in a televised address: 'The days are over when terror leaders can enjoy immunity of any kind...I won't allow that kind of immunity to exist.'
'We are in the midst of a campaign to defeat Hamas and release all of the hostages. We have delivered great blows to all parts of the axis of evil,' he added.
US President Donald Trump's statement on Truth Social in full above
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the strikes on Tuesday, saying they risk further destabilising the region.
The UK Prime Minister posted on X: 'I condemn Israel's strikes on Doha, which violate Qatar's sovereignty and risk further escalation across the region.
'The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a huge surge in aid into Gaza. This is the only solution towards long-lasting peace.'
A Hamas source said that the Israeli strikes targeted officials during a meeting to discuss Donald Trump's ceasefire proposals.
Negotiators were reportedly hit, and explosions rocked a Hamas compound, but it is believed all of the group's leadership survived.
Doha immediately condemned the 'cowardly' strikes, described them as a 'blatant violation of international law'.
Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, the Qatari ambassador to the UN, wrote in a letter to the Security Council that an investigation into the attack is underway and that the state 'is taking necessary measures to contain its repercussions.'
'While the State of Qatar strongly condemns this assault, it confirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.'
Iran joined in denouncing the 'gross violation of all international rules and regulations'.
A White House official told the BBC that the Trump administration was 'notified' about the attack in Qatar, a formal U.S. partner and major non-NATO ally, before it happened. The US's largest military base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, is in Qatar.
A complex on Wadi Rawdan Street, north of central Doha, was heavily damaged in the attack, according to the BBC's geolocation and images from the scene.
A senior Israeli official told Israeli outlet Channel 12 that Khaled Mashal was among the leaders in attendance targeted.
The Saudi Al Arabiya network initially reported that Mashal was among those killed, alongside at least two other senior officials.
Hamas denied the claims. A source told Al Jazeera that all members attending the meeting survived the 'assassination attempt'.
Two Hamas sources also told Reuters the group's ceasefire negotiation delegation in Doha survived the attack.
Saudi channels had also reported that senior Hamas figures including Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin and Nizar Awadallah had been killed - against Hamas' line.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres called the strike 'a flagrant violation of sovereignty'.
Qatar, a mediator alongside Egypt in ceasefire talks, said the attack was 'cowardly' and illegal while France's president Emmanuel Macron labelled it 'unacceptable'. Sir Keir spoke out ahead of a scheduled meeting today with Israel's president Isaac Herzog.
He wrote on X: 'Today's Israeli strikes on Qatar are unacceptable, whatever the reason. I express my solidarity with Qatar and its Emir, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani.
'Under no circumstances should the war spread throughout the region.'
The Israeli military named the operation targeting the meeting 'Summit of Fire'.
Qatar has long played a role in trying to mediate ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas' most senior leader, al-Hayya, left the city of Doha when Qatar suspended its mediation efforts late last year. al-Hayya is based in Qatar and has headed Hamas negotiators in indirect Gaza truce talks with Israel.
Hayya has been widely seen as the group's most influential figure abroad since Ismail Haniyeh was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024. He is part of a five-man leadership council that has led Hamas since Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel last October in Gaza.
Regarded as having good ties with Iran, a vital source of arms and finance for Hamas, he has been closely involved in the group's efforts to broker several truces with Israel, playing a key role in ending a 2014 conflict and again in attempts to secure an end to the current Gaza war.
Mashal, meanwhile, has been a central figure at the top of Hamas since the late 1990s, though he has worked mostly from the relative safety of exile as Israel plotted to assassinate other prominent Hamas figures based in the Gaza Strip.
He is the head of the group's 'external' politburo based in Qatar.
Israeli Presdient Mr Herzog said the strikes were 'important and correct'. The Prime Minister and Mr Herzog are also expected to clash over the UK Government's intention to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, claimed the move was justified in light of the fact Hamas leadership 'was the one who initiated and organised the October 7 [2023] massacre and has not stopped launching murderous actions against Israel and its citizens since then'.
He blamed Hamas for Tuesday's shooting attack on a Jerusalem bus that killed six people and injured a pregnant woman.
Hamas praised what it called the 'heroic and exceptional operation by two Palestinian resistance fighters' with its armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claiming responsibility.
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu admitted: 'Today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation.'
Yesterday's attack came as Israel ordered hundreds of thousands of residents of Gaza City to leave their homes as part of its latest ground offensive.
The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a 'shelter-in-place order' for their facilities, asking citizens to shelter where they are and monitor updates.
Israeli media reported that Donald Trump gave his blessing to the airstrikes, two days after issuing a 'last warning' to Hamas.
But the Israeli prime minister's office insisted Israel conducted unilateral action in Qatar.
'Today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,' Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a social media post.
'Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.'
It wasn't immediately clear how the attack was carried out, though Israeli military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee referred to Israel's air force carrying out the strike.
'These were air strikes,' a military official told AFP.
Tuesday's strikes came shortly after Hamas claimed responsibility for a gun attack in Jerusalem that killed six people on Monday.
Netanyahu and his defence minister issued a joint statement linking the strikes to the East Jerusalem shooting.
'The prime minister and defense minister believed the operation was completely justified in light of the fact that this Hamas leadership initiated and organized the October 7 massacre, and has not ceased to launch murderous actions against the State of Israel and its citizens since then,' the statement read.
The strikes also come less than two weeks after Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir vowed to target the group's leaders based abroad.
'Most of Hamas's leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,' Zamir said on August 31.
Hamas and Israel have held multiple rounds of indirect ceasefire negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States throughout the nearly two-year Gaza war.
Despite two temporary truces, the talks have failed to bring a lasting end to the war.
Hamas said Sunday it was ready to 'immediately sit at the negotiating table' following what it described as 'some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement'.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was issuing a 'last warning' to Hamas, insisting it accept a deal to release the hostages seized during the October 2023 attack which sparked the war.
The UN joined in denouncing the attack, warning that upending the negotiation process threatened to collapse ongoing ceasefire talks.
A forum for Israeli hostages said it was concerned for Gaza captives after the strikes on Doha.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned the strikes, also warning they threatened regional security and stability.
'His excellency stated that the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar constitutes a blatant violation of international law and an escalation that threatens regional security and stability,' Abbas's office said in a statement reported by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.
Qatar said it 'will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty'.
Saudi Arabia, whose tentative overtures towards normalisation of relations with Israel has been upended by the war in Gaza, said: 'The Kingdom affirms its full solidarity and support for Qatar, placing all its capabilities at its disposal to assist in any measures it may take, while warning of the grave consequences of the Israeli occupation's persistent criminal assaults and its blatant violations of the principles of international law and all international norms.'
The attack came as Israel stepped up a deadly assault on Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement addressing residents of the city: 'I say to the residents: you have been warned, leave now!
'All of this is just a prelude, just the opening, to the main intensified operation - the ground manoeuvre of our forces, who are now organising and assembling to enter Gaza City.'
