Netanyahu and Katz confirm Israel’s full responsibility for the Doha airstrike that reportedly killed four senior Hamas leaders, calling it justice for October 7 and the Jerusalem massacre.
Jerusalem — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz released a joint statement Tuesday evening, hours after the IDF’s unprecedented airstrike on Hamas leadership in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
The statement revealed that Netanyahu had ordered preparations for the strike following Monday’s dual wave of terror — a murderous Hamas-backed shooting at a Jerusalem bus station that killed six civilians, and ongoing rocket fire from Gaza. “The Defense Minister fully supported this initiative,” the statement said.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, an operational window opened Tuesday afternoon, leading to the decision — taken with the full backing of Israel’s security chiefs — to greenlight the strike.
“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” the PMO declared. “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”
Saudi outlet Al Hadath reported that four senior Hamas leaders — Khaled Mashal, Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, and Nizar Awadallah — were eliminated in the strike. Al Jazeera, however, cited a Hamas official claiming the leadership survived, leaving the full impact of the attack shrouded in uncertainty.
Netanyahu and Katz were unequivocal: Hamas’s leadership “initiated and organized the October 7 massacre” and has “continued to launch murderous operations against the State of Israel and its citizens,” including Monday’s bloodshed in Jerusalem.
The strike marks a historic escalation, with Israel openly targeting Hamas’s foreign command structure in Qatar — long seen as the terror group’s safe haven.
