When the government of Qatar condemned the Israeli airstrike in Doha as a ‘cowardly’ act, it revealed less about the operation itself than about the priorities of the state voicing the charge. In reality, the strike was an extraordinary and unprecedented move: Israel launched a precision airstrike inside Qatari territory targeting senior Hamas leadership, aiming to eliminate figures at the apex of the group’s external political and financial hierarchy. It was a direct and deliberate attack on the masterminds behind terrorism, carried out by Israeli fighter aircraft with exceptional range and accuracy. The operation marked a bold assertion of Israeli extraterritorial power and strategic doctrine.
There is nothing cowardly in striking the heart of an organisation responsible for one of the most cold-blooded and deliberate acts of mass violence in the region in recent memory. There is nothing timid in sending fighter jets thousands of kilometres beyond one’s borders to hunt the masterminds of a terrorist war machine. There is, in fact, only one word that accurately captures such an act: bravery.
This was an operation of principle and precision, carried out by the only Jewish state in the world – a country under siege since the day of its founding, and yet one that still upholds the duty of self-defence without apology. Israel has done what so many others fear to do: pursue the architects of mass murder wherever they may hide, even in the glittering towers of Gulf affluence. It is the exact opposite of cowardice. It is the projection of resolve.
According to reports, the Israeli strike was aimed at the senior-most tier of Hamas’s external political and financial command structure. Among those believed to have been present in the building at the time of the attack were Khalil al-Hayya, a veteran leader from Gaza and one of the movement’s key wartime negotiators; Zaher Jabarin, head of Hamas’s financial apparatus and architect of its global investment networks; Mohammad Ismail Darwish, chairman of the group’s powerful Shura Council; and Khaled Meshaal, former political bureau chief and long-time figurehead of Hamas abroad. Though the full casualty list remains unconfirmed, sources affiliated with Hamas have acknowledged the deaths of al-Hayya’s son and chief of staff – significant in themselves, and suggestive of proximity to senior leadership. The Saudi channel Al Arabiya has reported that both al-Hayya and Jabarin were killed in the strike.
These are not symbolic figures. They are not mere mouthpieces or bureaucrats. These are the men who fuel, fund, justify and direct Hamas’s campaign of murder and hostage-taking. They operate from luxury abroad while thousands die in Gaza, commanding and sustaining a terrorist structure that thrives on destruction. To strike at them is to cut at the spine of Hamas’s operational coherence.
Israeli sources say this operation had been in planning for months, with weekly consultations across intelligence and military command to ensure operational readiness. The decision to proceed followed what officials described as a hardening of Hamas’s negotiating posture – an indication that diplomatic paths were being used only as delaying tactics by a leadership convinced of its own impunity. Israel, however, had not forgotten its pledge: that those responsible for the 7 October atrocities would be pursued wherever they were. Unlike so many actors on the world stage, it does not trade in hollow threats.
And neither, crucially, does the United States. The coordination climate is worth noting. A reported joint air patrol involving Qatari, American and British aircraft was in the skies during the strike. The Centcom commander had visited Israel just days before. Yet Israel has taken full ownership of the action, with the Prime Minister’s Office declaring unambiguously: ‘Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.’
This moment also marks a geopolitical shift. Through actions such as these, Israel is continuing to assert its new role not merely as a defensive regional actor, but as a decisive one: a state that will strike far beyond its borders to uphold its interests and punish its enemies. Israel is gradually asserting itself as a regional superpower, able and willing to act to change the balance of power and level of threat in the entire region. This does not go unnoticed in the region: ten warplanes participated in the raids on Qatar, covering a distance of 1,800km and passing over Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They launched ten missiles at the headquarters of the Hamas delegation meeting in Doha. Nobody stopped them. These were the same countries which actively helped Israeli defence against ballistic missiles launched from Iran. Some reports even suggest Britain may have played a part. It’s important to observe how these states act when the heat rises, rather than listen too literally to what they say in hand-wringing, pearl clutching statements after the event.
This Israeli transformation is taking place with the unambiguous backing of the United States, whose own credibility has been reinforced in turn. This is not the language of appeasement, but the grammar of deterrence. Donald Trump clearly understands the weight of threats followed by consequences. Obama’s red lines in Syria, and Biden’s ‘don’t’ to Iran were both worthless. Trump’s ‘gates of hell’ and ‘last warning’ to Hamas turn out to actually mean something. That posture, the promise of retribution and the certainty of its arrival, is what makes peace possible in a region where weakness invites catastrophe.
Israel proved not only its intent, but its capability
Those who decry these actions from the sidelines, whether in Europe, Canada, or elsewhere, are not standing for law or peace. They are standing aside. And in doing so, they are forfeiting relevance in the future security order of the Middle East. To condemn those who act, while shielding or excusing those who slaughter, is not neutrality, it is abdication.
In time, more details will emerge of who exactly was killed. Hamas, like all terrorist organisations, lies first and revises later. This pattern has repeated with precision: immediately after the strike in Doha, Hamas sources claimed none of the senior leadership had been eliminated. But then came the first admissions. The same pattern played out following previous Israeli strikes on Mohammed Deif, Abu Ubaida, and even Ismail Haniyeh: denials followed by gradual confirmation as truth caught up with propaganda.
Even if not every target in this strike was eliminated, Israel did what it said it would do: it proved not only its intent, but its capability. The real message is that it can act, and it will. This is now a consistent doctrine. It has done so in Yemen, eliminating Houthi commanders; in Iran, where nuclear scientists have been targeted; in Lebanon, where senior Hezbollah operatives have been struck; and now in Qatar, where Hamas leaders believed themselves untouchable. No one is untouchable. Not anymore.
Even when individual missions fall short of complete tactical success, they reinforce a deeper strategic reality: There is no sanctuary. There is no safety. Not in the bunkers of Gaza, not in the compounds of Beirut, not in the high-rises of Doha.
As the new regional superpower of the Middle East, Israel is proving it can act as and when needed, even inside Qatar, one of the the richest and one of the most politically powerful states in the Arab world. In an age where evil no longer hides, only strength will suffice.
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