ROX• TV | Doha explosion live updates: Israel targets Hamas in Doha

The Israeli military says explosions seen and heard in the Qatari capital, Doha, are the result of an assassination attempt against Hamas leaders.

Tuesday’s attack is the first by Israel in Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and home to the region’s largest United States military base, Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts US troops.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria as well as carrying out daily attacks in the occupied West Bank in Palestine.

A Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the attack in Doha targeted the Hamas negotiating team. The attack came as the negotiators were meeting to consider the latest ceasefire proposal put forth by the US.

In a statement, the Hamas group said its leadership has survived Israel’s assassination attempt in the Qatari capital, adding that at least six people were killed in the bombing, including the son and an aide of Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya.

The Israeli military released a statement saying it and the Shin Bet intelligence service “recently carried out a targeted attack on the top leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization”.

“The members of the leadership who were attacked led the terrorist organization’s activities for years, and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and waging the war against the State of Israel”, it added, referring to the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The statement said that before the attack, “steps were taken to minimize harm to uninvolved people, including the use of precision weapons and additional intelligence information.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a statement, saying the action “against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation”.