Killing Hamas chiefs in Qatar would remove ‘main obstacle’ to peace – Netanyahu

Killing the Hamas leaders in Qatar would clear the way to ending the Gaza conflict and the return of Israeli hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, just days after the Jewish state bombed the militant group’s top members in Doha.

Hamas has said that its leadership was not taken out by the Israeli attack, which it described as an attempt to assassinate negotiators working on a potential settlement to the Gaza conflict.

“The Hamas terrorists chiefs” in Doha have “blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war,” Netanyahu claimed.

“Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war,” Netanyahu wrote on X on Saturday.

Qatar has hosted several rounds of Israel-Hamas negotiations, mediating talks that led to two temporary ceasefires in the Gaza war, one in 2023 and another earlier this year. It has accused Israel of “state terrorism” after the attack on its territory.

US President Donald Trump has also condemned the strike and distanced himself from it. “I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the US, and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” he said on Tuesday, adding that it was solely Netanyahu’s decision.

The Trump administration’s frustration with the Israeli prime minister has deepened since the attack on Qatar, Politico wrote on Thursday. “Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he bombs someone,” the outlet cited a White House official as saying.

Moscow has denounced the Israeli attack as a flagrant violation of international law and an attempt to derail the settlement process. Qatar plays a “key mediating role in indirect talks between Hamas and Israel,” and striking it could only be viewed as an attempt to undermine peace efforts, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

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