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WHO DIED? DID TRUMP KNOW? WHAT ABOUT THE HOSTAGES? FIVE KEY QUESTIONS
ON ISRAEL’S STRIKE IN DOHA  
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Amir Tibon
September 10, 2025
Haaretz
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_ Many details surrounding the IDF's airstrike on a Hamas leadership
meeting in Qatar remain unclear – including the level of U.S.
involvement, the fate of the 20 living Israeli hostages and if Qatar
will return to its mediator role. _

A still from AFP's livestream showing smoke rising after an IDF
airstrike in Doha, Qatar, yesterday., Credit: Jacqueline Penney/Agence
France-Presse (AFP) // Haaretz

 

More than 24 hours after Israel struck a meeting of senior Hamas
officials in Doha, Qatar, the dust has yet to settle, and there are
still more question marks than exclamation points related to this
shocking development.

This was the first time Israel had ever targeted Qatar
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a country not officially deemed an enemy of the Jewish state, and home
to the largest U.S. armed forces base in the Middle East. But will it
be a game-changer in the broader picture of the Gaza war, and in what
way?

Here are five open and important questions related to the Doha
airstrike.

DID IT SUCCEED?

As of Wednesday afternoon, a day after the strike in Doha, very little
information had come out about its results on the ground, or what is
called in military jargon a "BDA" – battle damage assessment. Hamas
and Qatar were quick to announce that the leadership of the
Palestinian terror organization, which had gathered in Doha to discuss
a recent U.S. cease-fire proposal, emerged unscathed. But such
statements should be treated with suspicion, at least until images of
those targeted are made public.

The targets of the strike were Hamas' political leaders, all of whom
live in exile
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are only one part of the organization's decision-making process, which
also involves its military leadership inside Gaza. However, most
members of the Gaza leadership
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been killed by Israel over the past 23 months, a reality which has
shifted the balance of power within Hamas farther toward the external
leaders based mostly in Qatar and Turkey.

Among those present at the meeting on Tuesday was Khalil al-Hayya
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the most senior Hamas official outside Gaza who was fully aware of the
October 7 attack plan. According to Qatar and Hamas, his son and one
of his senior aides were killed by the Israeli strike, but his fate
remains unclear. Alongside him were several other high-ranking Hamas
figures. After initially expressing confidence that they had been
eliminated, Israeli sources sounded more cautious on Wednesday.

 

Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, center, at a gathering grieving
assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha last year.  (Photo
credit: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters  //  Haaretz)
Still, until Hamas is able to produce conclusive evidence that the
leaders present at the Doha meeting are alive, this will remain an
open question.

WILL IT HARM NEGOTIATIONS TO RELEASE THE ISRAELI HOSTAGES?

Of all the unresolved questions, this one is the easiest to answer –
but also the most frightening and uncomfortable one to discuss. After
more than 700 days of war, the fate of Israel's hostages
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Gaza – including 20 who are considered to be alive, and 28 who are
likely dead – could be sealed by this airstrike, irrespective of
whether it succeeded or failed to eliminate Hamas' leadership.

If the group's leaders are dead, it's not clear with whom Israel will
be able to negotiate over a cease-fire and hostage release deal. It's
true that Hamas still has less than a handful of military leaders
hiding in the tunnels of Gaza, but unlike the political leadership in
Doha, they have very little contact with the outside world and
certainly aren't in a position to exchange drafts and discuss future
plans with diplomats from the three mediating countries (the U.S.,
Qatar and Egypt). Reaching a deal with them will be much more
difficult, if only for technical reasons.

 

Hostage families and their supporters protest the ongoing war outside
the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem yesterday.  (Photo credit: Mahmoud
Illean/AP  //  Haaretz)
But even if the strike didn't succeed, it's not clear if the surviving
Hamas leaders won't use it as the perfect excuse to freeze the
negotiations and pin the blame on Israel. After all, they were
literally meeting to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's cease-fire
proposal
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Israel had bombed them. As much as Hamas is a monstrous and vile
terror organization worthy of condemnation, it will be a hard sell for
Israel to convince other governments that its actions didn't harm the
negotiations this time around.

The families of the hostages held by Hamas responded to news of the
airstrike with a mixture of fear, anger and desperation. They blamed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for torpedoing the talks and
endangering their loved ones. It's hard to refute these accusations.

WHAT ROLE DID THE U.S. PLAY IN THE STRIKE?

It took a very short time for the Trump administration to try and
distance itself from the Israeli strike, and within several hours,
there was even a hint of American criticism on the subject. But there
are few buyers in the region for this version of events. Qatar is home
to a huge American military base and an important economic hub in the
region. It would be a dramatic breach of trust for Israel to bomb a
target within that country behind the back of the United States, its
closest and most important ally.
 

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Trump and Netanyahu, in what seems to be a coordinated message, insist
that America was informed
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a very short time before the attack took place, and therefore didn't
have enough time to inform Qatar of the incoming missiles. Trump added
that he was "unhappy" with the entire ordeal, whatever that means. But
the real way to test the validity of these briefings is to ask a
simple question: Did Netanyahu pay a price, in his relationship with
the Trump administration, for this action?

So far, the answer seems to be no, and therefore, the messaging coming
out of Washington isn't very convincing. This will change only if
Trump increases his pressure on Netanyahu to end the war via a
comprehensive hostage release and cease-fire deal.

WILL QATAR WITHDRAW FROM MEDIATING BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS?

In the immediate aftermath of the airstrike, Qatar announced that it
will suspend its role
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a mediator between Israel and Hamas. This was an obvious response, but
the billion-dollar question is whether it's a temporary reaction or a
long-term strategic decision. Trump, in an attempt to soothe the
Qataris, said that what happened on Tuesday will not happen again,
basically drawing a red line for Israel. He also pleaded with the
Qataris to continue their efforts
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reaching a cease-fire.

 
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaking at a signing ceremony
with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha in May.
 (Photo credit: Alex Brandon/AP  //  Haaretz)
But even before this airstrike, both Qatar and Egypt were showing
signs of losing patience and giving up on the talks, mostly because of
Trump's tendency to excuse Netanyahu's actions and accept all of his
demands in the negotiations. Netanyahu broke the previous cease-fire,
reached in January 2025
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by renewing the war two months later, despite Hamas' willingness to
continue into the second phase of that cease-fire agreement and
release all the remaining hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal
from Gaza. Trump, instead of insisting that the cease-fire be
respected by both sides, allowed Netanyahu to do this.

Now, six months later and with almost 60 Israeli soldiers killed since
the resumption of the war, Trump is again giving Netanyahu a free
hand, this time to reject a cease-fire and hostage release deal
offered by Egypt and Qatar, and accepted by Hamas; instead, the
president has adopted a plan drawn up by Netanyahu and his right-hand
man, Ron Dermer, which everyone knows will not be accepted by Hamas.

The Doha strike, in that regard, may be the straw that broke the
camel's back – especially since it comes on top of a growing sense
of despair, much due to Trump's allegiance to Netanyahu.

 
A building collapsing after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, near
a makeshift tent camp in Gaza City earlier today.  (Photo credit:
Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters  //  Haaretz)
WILL IT IMPACT ISRAEL'S IMPENDING GROUND OFFENSIVE IN GAZA?

This final question relies on all the previous ones and is perhaps the
most important of them all. If a hostage deal is now off the table,
and Trump has no intention to apply pressure on Netanyahu to change
his ways, the result is clear – Israel's expansion of the
war deeper into Gaza City
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inevitable, with all the difficult consequences involved.

Cynics will presume this was Netanyahu's intention in the first place:
to eliminate Hamas' negotiators, kill any chance of successful
negotiations and leave the military option as the only option left. In
that sense, the strike probably reached its goal – in the worst way
possible.

_[AMIR TIBON is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz,
and has previously served as the paper’s correspondent in
Washington, D.C., and as a senior editor for its English edition. He
is the author of The Last Palestinian: The Rise and Reign of Mahmoud
Abbas
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(co-authored with Grant Rumley), the first-ever biography of the
leader of the Palestinian Authority. He, his wife, and their two young
daughters were evacuated from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz after the
October 7 attack, and are currently living in temporary housing in
north-central Israel.]_

* Doha
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* Qatar
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* Hamas
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* IDF
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* Israeli airstrikes
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* Israeli bombing
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Gaza City
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* Gaza
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* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Ceasefire
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* Hostages
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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* Donald Trump
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* Genocide
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* U.S.-Israel military aid
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