Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directly accused Hamas leaders residing in Qatar of being the primary obstacle to ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of hostages. In a post on X, Netanyahu singled out the Hamas politburo in Doha, accusing them of deliberately prolonging the conflict and thwarting attempts at a ceasefire. He wrote, “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. Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Netanyahu’s remarks come amidst ongoing tensions regarding Qatar’s role in hosting senior Hamas officials, including Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau. Israel accuses these individuals of orchestrating the war from a position of safety outside of Gaza. Earlier, Netanyahu drew a parallel between Israel’s actions towards Hamas leaders in Qatar and the US response to the September 11 attacks, stating that Israel would act against these leaders regardless of their location unless Qatar took action. He demanded, “Bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will.”
Qatar has responded critically to Netanyahu’s comments, dismissing them as “reckless” and emphasizing that the presence of Hamas leaders in Qatar is part of US and Israeli-backed mediation efforts. The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement highlighting the official and transparent nature of the negotiations, with the involvement of US and Israeli delegations. The statement condemned Netanyahu’s claims that Qatar was secretly harboring the Hamas delegation, asserting it was an attempt to justify actions criticized internationally.
An Israeli airstrike in Doha reportedly targeted a meeting of Hamas’s senior leadership, who were allegedly discussing a new US-backed proposal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.