Israeli officers appeared on Wednesday to more and more solid doubt on the success of yesterday’s strike in Qatar focusing on the leaders of the Hamas terror group’s politburo, with a collection of nameless quotes to Hebrew-language retailers.
The Kan public broadcaster mentioned in an unsourced report that Israel had knowledgeable america that the probabilities that the strike had been profitable had decreased considerably.
“Proper now there’s no indication that the terrorists have been killed,” an nameless supply was quoted telling Channel 12 information. “We proceed to hope they have been assassinated, however optimism is fading.”
Comparable sentiments have been reported by Kan, which quoted an official as saying that the ultimate outcomes wanted to be seen however that it was doable the strike had not achieved “the specified end result.”
Two sources from the protection and intelligence group advised Ynet that, within the outlet’s phrases, they have been “pessimistic relating to the lethality of the strike on a lot of the targets, and maybe all of them.” A battle harm evaluation was ongoing, the report mentioned.
The daring Israeli airstrike focused a gathering of Hamas’s prime leaders on Tuesday as they have been mentioned to be gathered to debate a brand new US-sponsored hostage-ceasefire proposal aimed toward ending the warfare in Gaza.
Injury is seen after an Israeli strike focused a compound that hosted Hamas’ political management in Doha, Qatar, September 10, 2025. (AP/Jon Gambrell)
The gathering was believed to incorporate all the terror group’s prime management exterior Gaza, together with the chief of Hamas’s Gaza models, Khalil al-Hayya; Zaher Jabarin, who leads Hamas within the West Financial institution; Muhammad Darwish, the pinnacle of Hamas’s Shura Council; Nizar Awadallah; and Khaled Mashaal, the pinnacle of Hamas overseas.
Whereas Israel confirmed the strike, dubbed “Operation Summit of Fireplace” by the Israel Protection Forces, and awaited the result, Hamas insisted none of its management cadre had been killed.
The fear mentioned in an announcement that whereas its prime leaders survived the strike, 5 lower-level members have been killed, together with the son of Khalil al-Hayya — Hamas’s chief for Gaza and its prime negotiator — in addition to three bodyguards and the pinnacle of al-Hayya’s workplace.
Hamas leaders on October 7 have been praying in Doha, Qatar whereas watching the bloodbath unfolding on tv. I think a few of these leaders have been focused right this moment by Israel. pic.twitter.com/z2zBxoiHBa
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 9, 2025
Hamas, which has generally solely confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later, has provided no proof that al-Hayya and different senior figures had survived.
Amid rising criticism of the strike on the worldwide stage in addition to inside Israel, Protection Minister Israel Katz appeared on Wednesday to rebuff censure of the choice to go after Hamas figures in US-allied Qatar, saying Israel wouldn’t enable the group to seek out secure haven anyplace.
Whereas Katz didn’t tackle indications that a number of the Hamas leaders weren’t killed within the strike, he mentioned that anybody who took half within the October 7, 2023, bloodbath will “have justice served.”
Protection Minister Israel Katz visits the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, on September 2, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
“Israel’s safety doctrine is evident — its lengthy arm will act in opposition to its enemies in every single place,” he mentioned in an announcement. “There’s nowhere they’ll cover.”
The Kan public broadcaster reported Tuesday that IDF’s envoy for the hostage negotiations, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, had opposed the strike going down right now, and that reservations have been additionally heard from IDF Chief of Workers Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and senior officers inside the Mossad intelligence company.
US President Donald Trump mentioned Tuesday he had not been notified prematurely of Israel’s strikes in opposition to Qatar and expressed dissatisfaction with the assault in opposition to an American ally, in a considerably uncommon rebuke of Israel and the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities.
“I’m simply, I’m not thrilled about the entire scenario,” Trump advised reporters. “We would like the hostages again, however we’re not thrilled about the way in which that went down right this moment.”
US President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks to reporters exterior the restaurant Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Washington on September 9, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
In one other signal that Washington was maybe taken abruptly, Qatari sources told Washington Put up international affairs columnist David Ignatius that Israel and the US had promised them that officers from the phobia group wouldn’t be focused on Qatari soil.
In response to Ignatius, Qatar sought assurances after Zamir mentioned on August 31 that “the majority of Hamas’s ruling management that is still is overseas, and we’ll attain them too.”
He mentioned the pledges got final month, indicating that the Mossad and White Home did so inside hours of Zamir’s feedback.
Tuesday’s strike “got here as a complete shock,” a Qatari official was quoted telling the columnist.
Feedback describing the strike from Israeli officers famous the involvement of the navy and the Shin Guess, however not the Mossad, which might usually play a key position in a delicate operation in opposition to terror figures exterior of Israel or its speedy environs.
Mossad head David Barnea has performed a number one position in oblique talks with Hamas on ending the Gaza warfare and releasing hostages, which have been mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left) speaks at an evaluation alongside Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, August 31, 2025. (IDF)
In the meantime, The Wall Street Journal reported that Turkish and Egyptian interlocutors had warned Hamas’s political management to tighten safety round their conferences within the weeks earlier than Israel’s assault, citing interviews with officers from Israel, the US, Qatar and different Arab nations.
In response to the report, 10 Israeli jets have been deployed to fireside long-range munitions on the home within the Qatari capital the place Hamas’s political management had gathered for the assembly.
The jets fired the missiles from exterior Qatari airspace and in addition didn’t breach the airspace of Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, the broadsheet reported.
US officers confirmed to the newspaper that Israel knowledgeable the US of the assault minutes earlier than the launch, and didn’t disclose the goal.
Trump mentioned Tuesday that he had been tipped off by the US navy concerning the Israeli strike in Doha and that he instantly directed US particular envoy Steve Witkoff to tell Qatar of what was coming — “which he did, nonetheless, sadly, too late to cease the assault.”
