Hamas leadership likely escaped Israeli airstrike – report

Israeli increasingly pessimistic regarding the outcome of Tuesday’s airstrike on a gathering of senior Hamas officials in Doha, with no indication terror leaders were killed.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s unprecedented airstrike on a gathering of senior Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday may have failed to eliminate any of the terror group’s top leaders, according to multiple reports in the Hebrew media.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that the country’s security establishment is increasingly pessimistic regarding the impact of Tuesday’s attack, dubbed Operation Summit of Fire.

The bombing, carried out by Israel Air Force jets, struck a building in Doha where Hamas’ politburo is thought to have convened to deliberate the terror group’s response to a ceasefire proposal submitted by the US.

All of Hamas’ senior leaders in exile are believed to have been present at the gathering, including Khaled Mashaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Darwish, and Nizar Awadallah.

After the attack, however, Hamas claimed that none of its politburo members were among the six fatalities it reported in the strike. According to the terror group, al-Hayya’s son and his son’s aide were killed along with three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer.

Publicly, Israel has remained mum on the results of Operation Summit of Fire.

In private, however, there is growing doubt among Israel’s top brass as to whether the strikes killed any of the top Hamas officials targeted.

“Right now there is no indication that the terrorists were killed,” a source told Israel’s Channel 12. “We continue to hope they were assassinated, but optimism is fading.”

Yedioth Aharonoth quoted two security and intel officials who said they were “pessimistic regarding the lethality of the strike on most of the targets, and perhaps all of them.”

President Donald Trump, who expressed frustration regarding the attack, claimed in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that he had instructed his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar of the impending attack.

It is unclear whether Witkoff was able to notify Doha prior to the bombing, with Qatar claiming it was notified only after the attack had already begun.