HAMAS declared on Thursday that Israel’s airstrike on the Qatari capital, Doha, which killed five of its members and a Qatari officer, was both a crime against Qatar’s sovereignty and a wider act of war against the Arab and Islamic world.
At a press conference, senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum condemned the attack, calling it a ‘brutal and treacherous aggression’ targeting Hamas’s negotiating delegation in Doha. He urged Arab and Islamic leaders to confront Israeli arrogance by applying political, economic, diplomatic, and legal pressure to hold Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government accountable.
Barhoum said the strike deliberately targeted the negotiation process itself, as the Hamas team was reviewing a new Qatari proposal at the time.
He argued that Israel’s actions not only sought to assassinate Hamas leaders but also to undermine Qatar and Egypt’s mediation and to reject ceasefire efforts.
The Hamas members killed in the strike were named as Jihad Labbad (Abu Bilal), Hammam Hayya (Abu Yahya), Abdullah Abdulwahid (Abu Khalil), Mu’min Hassouneh (Abu Omar), and Ahmed Abdel Malik (Abu Malik). Qatari Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari was also killed. The residence of Hamas’s chief negotiator was hit, injuring his wife and members of Hayya’s family.
‘This battle is not just about Gaza, Hamas, or Palestine. It is a battle for the entire Arab and Muslim world,’ Barhoum said.
He demanded urgent international action to isolate Israel, punish its leadership, and end the campaign in Gaza. Barhoum added that the failed assassination attempt showed Israel’s desperation after nearly two years of war in which it had failed to crush Palestinian resistance.
Barhoum declared that ‘no force on Earth can deny Palestinians their legitimate right to self-defence and liberation’.
He accused the United States of bearing full responsibility for the attack by giving Israel political and military cover.
Thousands in Qatar took part in funerals for the martyrs on Thursday after Asr prayer.
The Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, attended prayers at the Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque and accompanied the martyrs to burial at Mesaimeer Cemetery.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the attack as ‘an act of state terrorism’, saying Netanyahu was violating international law, starving Gaza, and must be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political bureau since 2012 and has mediated recent indirect talks with Israel, called the strike a dangerous escalation and a direct assault on its sovereignty and security.
War planes, drones & artillery continue to bombard Gaza
ISRAEL’S assault on the Gaza Strip entered its 707th consecutive day yesterday, with warplanes, drones, and artillery continuing to bombard civilian areas, killing and wounding residents already facing famine and mass displacement.
Medics confirmed that multiple civilians were killed in airstrikes across different parts of the Strip since early morning.
In Gaza City, Israeli jets launched fresh raids while quadcopter drones opened fire on the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.
An explosive-laden robot was also detonated between residential buildings near the Sheikh Radwan reservoir.
In central Gaza, staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah reported injuries after a drone strike on a tent sheltering displaced families close to the hospital grounds.
Earlier in the day, Israeli forces struck central Khan Younis, and at midnight warplanes hit the area around Al-Jalaa junction and the Al-Oyoun neighbourhood in Sheikh Radwan, northwest Gaza City.
Shelling also targeted the vicinity of Al-Daraj Clinic in central Gaza.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Israel’s ongoing genocide, carried out with full United States support, has so far killed 64,718 people, wounded 163,859, and left over 9,000 missing beneath rubble.
More than two million Palestinians have been driven from their homes under conditions of famine and total destruction.