Israel is reeling from the worst terrorist attack in its history. Hamas and other Iranian proxies launched thousands of rockets and infiltrated the Jewish state, murdering and kidnapping hundreds of civilians, while filming their atrocities. But while Israel girds itself for a costly war in the Gaza Strip, top Hamas leaders are living in luxury abroad, far from the consequences of the war they initiated. That needs to change.

Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, has its origins in the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood’s existence in the area predates Israel’s 1948 creation. But as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America has documented , the group didn’t really take off until it received Iranian backing some three decades ago.

Hamas’s power grew in the 1990s when it launched suicide bombings during the U.S.-backed peace process. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Hamas subsequently defeated its rival, Fatah, in a brief but bloody internecine conflict. By 2007, Hamas controlled the Gaza Strip and immediately began launching rockets at the Jewish state, which, along with Egypt, responded with a blockade.

Hamas has initiated several wars since, most recently in 2021. But this latest war is of a different scale. Several commentators have compared the attacks to 9/11, with some estimates indicating that Israel, a nation of 9 million, has suffered multiple times as many losses as the U.S. did. As foreign policy analyst Alex Plitsas pointed out , "It is the largest mass murder of civilians in a single day who were executed because they were Jewish since the Holocaust."

Israel’s response is sure to be of a different caliber. But many of those responsible will be far from the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s leadership mostly lives in Qatar and Turkey. Indeed, when Israel was attacked, footage emerged of Ismail Haniyeh feigning surprise from a Qatari hotel room. Other Hamas apparatchiks, such as the billionaire Khaled Mashal, also live in Qatar, which has a long history of supporting terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, among others.

Importantly, the United States has tremendous leverage over Qatar. The U.S. established key military bases in the country nearly two decades ago. Not only does this help protect the Qataris, but it also burnishes their economy and saves them defense spending. The U.S. also gives copious aid to the Qatari government. Doha, however, has repaid this assistance by playing a double game . Qatar has sheltered terror operatives with both American and Israeli blood on their hands. Nor is Qatar alone.

Another ostensible U.S. ally, Turkey, has also played host to top Hamas operatives. In recent years, Turkey has claimed to seek reconciliation with Israel, yet Ankara has allowed Hamas to openly operate in the country. Hamas has even established bases on Turkish soil that carry out cyberattacks and counterintelligence operations. Saleh Arouri, the Hamas operative who planned the kidnappings of Israelis that resulted in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, spends his time shuttling between Turkey and Lebanon, another country that benefits from extensive international aid.

In short, the U.S. and other countries have leverage to hit Hamas where it hurts. But so far, they’ve  refused to use it. For its part, in recent years Israel has largely refrained from eliminating Hamas operatives abroad. That seems likely to change.

The writer is a Senior Research Analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.