Doha: Khalil al-Hayya walked out alive from an Israeli strike that turned skies of the Qatari capital of Doha into fire, but the Hamas veteran lost his son and aide in the attack that has stunned the Arab world. Three of his bodyguards are still missing.
The senior Hamas leader has carried the scars of war for decades. Born in 1960 in Gaza City’s Sejaiyeh quarter, al-Hayya joined the militant group when it was founded in 1987 and has remained part of its leadership ever since.
His personal losses run deep. In 2007, an Israeli raid on his family home killed several of his relatives. In 2014, another bombardment killed his eldest son Osama, Osama’s wife and three of their children.
Years later, al-Hayya relocated to Doha, where he rose as one of Hamas’s most influential leaders abroad. After the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar last year, he became the group’s chief negotiator and the exiled head of Gaza affairs, tasked with leading ceasefire talks and connecting Hamas with Arab and Islamic capitals.
That prominence made him a prime target. According to Hamas officials, the delegation in Doha was reviewing Donald Trump’s latest ceasefire proposal when Israeli warplanes struck.
Suhail al-Hindi of Hamas’s political bureau confirmed the assassination attempt failed. “The blood of the leadership of the movement is like the blood of any Palestinian child,” he told Al Jazeera.
Israel’s Expanding War Map
The Doha raid fits into Israel’s widening regional offensive. Tel Aviv has struck six Arab states in the past one month. Gaza remains under daily bombardment. Southern Lebanon, Syria and Yemen have all come under fire. In Tunisia, a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla was struck by a suspected Israeli drone.
The list of Hamas leaders assassinated continues to grow. Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the group, was killed in Beirut in January. Marwan Issa, deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades, died in a Gaza strike in March. Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July, last year. By October, Yahya Sinwar was also dead, eliminated in southern Gaza.
In Doha, multiple explosions ripped through the capital near embassies. Israel later confirmed it had targeted Hamas officials.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry condemned the raid as “a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms and a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents of Qatar”.
‘Fully Justified’
In Israel, leaders described the strike as a success. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it the “correct decision”, declaring that “terrorists have no and will have no immunity from the long arm of Israel anywhere in the world”.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid congratulated the country’s security forces for “an exceptional operation to thwart our enemies”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated, “Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation. Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it and Israel takes full responsibility.”
Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Israel Katz defended the airstrike, insisting it was “fully justified”. “The prime minister and defence minister believe the operation was entirely justified, given that this Hamas leadership planned and executed the October 7 massacre and continues to direct murderous attacks on Israel and its citizens,” the two leaders said in a joint statement, linking the attack to Monday’s East Jerusalem shooting that left six Israelis dead.
But the strike, which hit a residential neighbourhood in the Qatari capital, raises legal alarms. Analysts state it appears to breach key provisions of international law, including the UN Charter’s ban on aggression against sovereign states.
Israeli parliament speaker Amir Ohana posted video of the strike, captioned in Arabic: “This is a message for the entire Middle East.”
Qatar’s Interior Ministry confirmed that the blasts had hit “a Hamas residential headquarters” and urged residents to remain calm. Officials said the situation was under control.