Doha blasts: Israel hits top Hamas leaders amid ceasefire talks, attack ‘greenlit by Trump’ | Updates

• It was President Trump who “gave the green light” to Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime for the attack, an Israeli news channel reported quoting unnamed officials. Netanyahu, however, posted on X: “Israel initiated it, Israel carried it out and Israel takes full responsibility.”
• Top leaders of the Palestinian group were together in the Gulf city after a peace call by Donald Trump. The Hamas negotiating delegation was expressly discussing Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, Al Arabiya reported.
• Details of who may have been killed or injured were not immediately out, but Israeli media said Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin were among those hit.
• Khalil al-Hayya and Jabarin are among the five seniormost Palestinian leaders currently serving as collective heads of Hamas, alongside Khaled Mashal and Muhammad Ismail Darwish, and another unnamed official, after Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel last year.
• Hamas’ exiled leadership has long been based in Qatar, which has served as a mediator in talks between Hamas and Israel for several years, even before the latest war in the Gaza Strip.
• The strike could further complicate negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza even as Israel moves in to clear the city of its residents.
• Earlier this week, Donald Trump said he was giving his “last warning” to Hamas for a ceasefire. A senior Hamas official called it a “humiliating surrender document”, but the group said it would discuss and respond.
• The proposal, presented by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, called for a negotiated end of the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza once the hostages are released, and a ceasefire is established, according to Egyptian and Hamas officials familiar with the talks, AP reported.
• The Qatari regime condemned Tuesday’s attack as “cowardly”. Its foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari called it a “flagrant violation of all international laws and norms”. Earlier, Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, home to the US military, had come under Iranian attack during a 12-day Iran-Israel war that saw American bombers hit Iranian nuclear sites too.
• The Israeli military did not give specifics immediately, but said, “For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7th massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel.”
• The Israeli military said that they took measures in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence before the strike.

(inputs from AP, Reuters)