By Joshua Arnold

The Israeli Air Force “conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced shortly after noon, local time, on Tuesday. The strike was the Jewish state’s first against Hamas in Qatar, a Persian Gulf oil kingdom that has sponsored Hamas leaders for decades and has lately hosted the unproductive ceasefire negotiations. Israel’s strike against the terrorists’ remaining leadership comes as Netanyahu’s government moves to end the war through total victory over Hamas.

“At the beginning of the war, we set a very clear goal of war that says eradicating Hamas as a governmental and military entity,” explained Amir Avivi, a former IDF commander and the founder and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum. “They initiated the 7th of October massacre, they commanded it, and now they are paying the price.”

In November 2024, Qatar had promised, at Trump’s request, to expel the top Hamas officials from their comfortable haven. But nearly a year had passed, and the Hamas officials remained.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump delivered his strongest ultimatum yet for Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal proposed by the United States. “Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim, based in Turkey, responded on Monday that the proposal was not a serious peace offer but a “humiliating surrender document.” The American proposal required Hamas’s disarmament, which Israelis contend is the only way to bring serious peace to Gaza.

On Tuesday, Israel struck Doha, a target every bit as far from Israel as Tehran or the Houthis and sheltered behind Saudi airspace. Israel targeted Hamas leaders in the same location where they gathered to celebrate Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel.

“Let’s not forget — why is Israel in this position in the first place? It goes back to October 7th, 2023, nearly two years ago, [when] 1,200 innocent Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, [and] 300 hostages [were] taken. This is a war started by Hamas. And this war is going to end on Israel’s terms,” said Senator Steve Daines (R-N.D.) on “Washington Watch.”

On October 24, 2023, a Hamas spokesman publicly announced on Lebanese TV that the group aimed at Israel’s “annihilation.” More recently, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted that Hamas leaders abroad would be “annihilated” unless the group laid down its arms.

“There will never be true peace between Gaza and Israel until Hamas is eradicated,” Daines declared. “And so, they’re going after the command and control, including leadership. And we’ve got to give Israel, in my opinion, the space and the latitude to do what it needs to do to protect itself.”

“Israel acted wholly independently” in the airstrike to “open an end of the war in Gaza,” Netanyahu insisted. Israel reportedly notified U.S. officials just as the strikes were being launched, leaving no time for the Trump administration to countermand the mission, even if they wanted to.

The U.S. military informed Trump, who ordered U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qatari government, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. She added that, while eliminating Hamas was a “worthy goal,” striking Qatar “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.” In May, the Trump administration accepted Qatar’s “unconditional donation” of a luxury airliner worth $400 million for Trump to use as Air Force One.

Other Western leaders issued furious condemnations, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Both leaders plan to recognize Palestinian statehood at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly later this month.

For its part, the Qatari Foreign Ministry also condemned what it called a “cowardly” and “reckless” attack which “constitutes a blatant violation” of its sovereignty and security. National Review’s Noah Rothman noticed that the language echoes Qatar’s protestations in June, when Iran fired missiles at a U.S. airbase in Qatar, which Qatar called a “flagrant violation” of its borders. Qatar received forewarning of that attack, allowing it to intercept the missiles with zero casualties.

Among the targets of Israel’s Tuesday airstrike were Nizar Awadallah, “a U.S.-branded Specially Designated Global Terrorist … who has played a central role in negotiating prisoner exchanges with Israel going back decades”; Mohammed Darwish, head of Hamas’s politburo; Zaher Jabarin, described as Hamas’s CEO; and Khaled Mashaal, a previous head of Hamas’s politburo, who has been indicted in the United States for decades of terrorist activities. “For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7 massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the IDF stated.

As with the strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, initial reports are unclear regarding the success of Israel’s operation. According to Hamas, five terrorists were killed, but the main leaders all survived.

“The guys in Qatar, these terrible terrorists, they were the government of Hamas,” Avivi averred. “This is part of the goal, really, to eradicate Hamas as a governmental entity.”

“In the coming months, there will be a decisive win in the Gaza Strip, which will enable us to destroy Hamas and bring back our hostages,” he explained. “Hamas has only two strongholds remaining, the city of Gaza and some areas in the central camps. The city of Gaza is really the governmental center of Hamas. This is the main brigade of Hamas that is left, and going into Gaza City and destroying this stronghold will bring Israel very close to a decisive win in Gaza.” Along with a military victory, decapitating Hamas’s political leadership abroad could help Israel finally defeat the terrorist group for good.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.