This morning, we woke up to news that Israel carried out a strike in Doha against Hamas leadership.

There are various reports as to who was in the building that was hit and whether it was successful. I am not going to mention any of the names being floated at this time until there is official confirmation.

But I think the strike says a few things. One is that this is a change in Israel’s posture to targeting Hamas leadership. Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders for years, and up until this point, Israel has resisted taking the step of striking inside the country. With this strike, Israel is making good on various pledges to target Hamas leadership wherever they are. As Israeli journalist Amit Segal notes, “For the first time since Operation Entebbe in 1976, the IDF has struck targets in a country that is not an enemy state.”

The other important takeaway is that this indicates a shift from President Trump. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offices was quick to release a statement emphasizing that the action was “a wholly independent Israeli operation. Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”  But it’s also clear that this wouldn’t have happened without Trump knowing about it and being okay with it. Trump’s patience with Hamas’s refusal to agree to a deal to release all the hostages was clearly running thin. On Sunday, he urged Hamas to take the deal on the table. “I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” he wrote on Truth Social. “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

Qatar itself, officially condemned the strike “strongly,” and it is no doubt an embarrassment for them. But I do wonder if they wouldn’t privately be relieved if the  headaches caused by hosting the Hamas leadership were eliminated without having to have to incur the wrath of the Arab street by publicly ousting them.