Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that removing Hamas leaders based in Qatar would clear the main obstacle to securing a hostage release and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha in air strikes that were condemned by Qatar, which has served as one of the venues for ceasefire talks.
Hamas has said five of its members, including a son of its exiled Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya, were killed in the attack, but its senior leaders and members of its negotiating team survived.
Qatar has said a member of its internal security forces was also killed.
“The Hamas terrorist chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza. They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
Hamas has described the Doha attack as an attempt by Israel to derail the ceasefire negotiations and said it would not change the group’s terms for ending the war in Gaza.
Israel has demanded Hamas free all remaining hostages held in Gaza and disarm.
Hamas says it will not free all hostages without an agreement that would end the war and will not give up its weapons until Palestinians have an independent state.
“What’s Happened, Has Happened”
In a related development, U.S. President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow U.S. allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the U.S. and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the U.S. relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the militants and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
