Israel vows to strike foes anywhere after Qatar attack

This frame grab taken from an AFPTV footage shows a man looking at smoke billowing after explosions in Qatar's capital Doha on September 9, 2025. [AFP]

Israel has warned its enemies that they are not safe anywhere, a day after strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar -- a US ally -- drew a rare rebuke from President Donald Trump.

Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed that "Israel's long arm will act against its enemies anywhere", following Tuesday's deadly attack on the Gulf state, which hosts a large US military base and has spearheaded repeated rounds of Gaza truce efforts.

"There is no place where they can hide," Katz wrote on X, adding: "Everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre will be held fully accountable," referring to Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the nearly two-year Gaza war.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said six people were killed in the strikes, including an aide and an adult son of its top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, as well as three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer.

But the group said its senior leaders had survived, affirming "the enemy's failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation".

The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel's decision to take military action and had warned Qatar in advance of the incoming strikes.

But Doha said it had not received the warning from Washington until the attack was already under way.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sought to justify the decision, telling an Israeli radio station: "We don't always act in the interests of the United States."

"It was not an attack on Qatar; it was an attack on Hamas," Danon told 103FM, adding: "It is too early to comment on the outcome, but the decision is the right one."

According to sources close to Hamas, six Hamas leaders including Hayya and former top leader Khaled Meshaal were in the targeted building at the time. AFP has been unable to reach any of them since then.