Israel carried out what it called a precise strike on Hamas' senior leadership in Qatar on Tuesday, with the Palestinian group claiming the IDF targeted negotiators.
Several blasts were heard in Doha, the Qatari capital, this afternoon as the IDF claimed responsibility for the unprecedented strikes.
The IDF said that it and the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet, had 'conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership' of Hamas.
'Prior to the strike, measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,' it said, vowing to 'continue to operate... to defeat the Hamas terrorist organisation'.
Israel media, citing a senior Israeli official, said the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its Gaza chief. Qatar said that the strikes had targeted the residential homes of Hamas officials.
Al-Jazeera reported that Hamas negotiators had been hit in Doha, quoting a senior Hamas official. An AFP journalist said the explosions had rocked a Hamas compound.
Doha immediately condemned the 'cowardly' attack, described as a 'flagrant violation to all international law'. Iran joined in denouncing the 'gross violation of all international rules and regulations'.
An Israeli official said that the United States had been notified before the strike, according to Reuters. The United States' largest military base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, is in Qatar.
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.
It was not immediately clear whether he was in the city at the time of the airstrike.
The Qatari government says it continues to mediate for a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza with the U.S.
Hamas members had reportedly met in the city to discuss Trump's ceasefire proposals at the time of the airstrike.
A senior Israeli official told Israeli outlet Channel 12 that Khaled Mashal, the acting chairman of Hamas' political bureau, was among the leaders in attendance targeted.
The Saudi Al Arabiya network 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'.
Tuesday's strikes come less than two weeks after armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir vowed to targed 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.
'May all your enemies perish, Israel,' Culture Minister Miki Zohar posted on X.
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 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,' he said.
