DOHA, Qatar — Qatari security forces deployed Wednesday around the site of an Israeli attack the previous day on Hamas’ political leaders who had gathered in the capital of the energy-rich Middle East country to consider a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Tuesday’s strike on a building in Doha killed at least six people in a neighborhood that is home to foreign embassies and schools.
The strike on the territory of a U.S. ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Middle East and beyond. It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strike and threatened further action against Qatar a day after U.S. President Trump had sought to ease tensions between the U.S. allies, including by assuring the Gulf nation that there would be no more such strikes on its soil.
“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Because if you don’t, we will.”
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the attack, said about 10 planes participated in the mission and dropped about 10 missiles.
Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday that he had made the decision to carry out the strike the day before. The official did not know how long the mission had been planned, but said the timing was connected to “operational opportunity” — with Israel knowing that many Hamas officials would be gathered in an area relatively easy to hit without threatening Qatari civilians.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, called out Netanyahu over the attack.
“Such hostile behavior reflects only the barbarism of Netanyahu,” the minister said while consoling the family of a Qatari security official killed in Israel’s strike.
Israel hasn’t specified what it used to carry out the strike, beyond saying it employed precision-guided weapons meant to minimize collateral damage.
Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya — Hamas’ leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — as well as three bodyguards and the head of Mr. al-Hayya’s office. Hamas, which has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that al-Hayya and other senior figures had survived.
Qatar maintains a major arsenal of air defense systems, including both American-made Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD batteries. However, it didn’t immediately appear that Qatari air defenses engaged during the attack, which occurred just before 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Sheikh Mohammed said Tuesday that “the Israeli enemy used weapons that were not detected by radar.”
He did not elaborate but the statement suggests Israeli fighter jets could have launched so-called “standoff” missiles at a distance to strike the site without actually entering Qatari airspace.
The United States says it tried to warn Qatar ahead of the strike, but Sheikh Mohammed said that “the Americans sent a message 10 minutes after the attacks took place.”
Qatar is also home to the U.S. military’s forward headquarters for its Mideast-based Central Command. The headquarters, located at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base, also has American-run radars and defense systems and recently hosted Mr. Trump on his tour of the region in May.
Israel’s attack in Qatar threatens to upend both negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel’s efforts to reach out to Gulf Arab states, New York-based think tank The Soufan Center said in an analysis Wednesday.
“The attack has profound strategic implications because by striking a Gulf Cooperation Council state, Israel risks undermining the Abraham Accords and unraveling the fragile normalization framework with Arab partners,” the center said, referring to the 2020 diplomatic recognition deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.