Israeli Attack on Hamas Leaders in Quiet Qatar Shocks Gulf Allies, Tests US Ties

The tiny, gas-rich Gulf Arab state of Qatar hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East. It has evacuated tens of thousands of American citizens from Afghanistan. It has been designated a U.S. "major non-NATO ally." It has even lavished a $400 million jumbo jet on President Donald Trump for use as Air Force One.

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None of that protected this quiet peninsula in the Persian Gulf from coming under an Israeli aerial attack on Tuesday as it mediated U.S.-backed negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel struck a meeting of Hamas' exiled political leadership in Qatar's capital of Doha, sending plumes of smoke and debris rising over a city of air-conditioned World Cup stadiums and luxury malls typically shielded by U.S. interceptor batteries.

Since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel ignited its war in Gaza, the Israeli military has targeted Hamas leaders far afield.

But while Israel considers Tehran and Beirut fair game, it had refrained from striking Hamas' political office in Qatar, the key mediator and U.S. ally that Israeli leadership relied on as a back channel to the Palestinian militant group.