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JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it targeted senior Hamas leaders on Tuesday, after AFP journalists in Doha reported explosions in the Qatari capital, where the Palestinian group’s political bureau is based.
“The IDF (Israeli military) and ISA (security agency) conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military said, without specifying where the strike took place.
An AFP journalist in Doha reported explosions rocking a Hamas compound in the city.
“For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7 (2023) massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel,” the military said.

Qatar condemned what it described as a “cowardly” Israeli strike, and called it a violation of international law.
“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said in a post on X.
Tuesday’s strikes come less than two weeks after armed forces chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir vowed to targed the group’s leaders based abroad.
“Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well,” Zamir said on August 31.
Hamas and Israel have held multiple rounds of indirect ceasefire negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States throughout the nearly two-year Gaza war.
Despite two temporary truces, the talks have failed to bring a lasting end to the war.
Hamas said Sunday it was ready to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” following what it described as “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement.”
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was issuing a “last warning” to Hamas, insisting it accept a deal to release the hostages seized during the October 2023 attack which sparked the war.

PORT SUDAN: A wave of paramilitary drone strikes hit key infrastructure and military targets in and around Sudan’s army-held capital Tuesday, bringing to an abrupt end a period of relative calm in the area.
The strikes hit a power station, a weapons factory and an oil refinery near Khartoum, witnesses at the sites said on condition of anonymity, while a military source said an air base had also been targeted.
The Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) Tasis administration later said the paramilitaries had launched “precise and successful air strikes” in Khartoum and other areas.
The Tasis administration has declared itself the government in territory held by the RSF, at war with Sudan’s regular army since April 2023.
The assault came months after the military recaptured the capital in March, and as the army-backed government pressed a major reconstruction bid.
The attacks occurred at around 5:00 am (0300 GMT), with witnesses telling AFP by phone, on condition of anonymity, that they had seen strikes hit the Al-Jaili oil refinery, the Al-Markhiyat substation in Omdurman and the Yarmuk weapons factory.
Four drones targeted the power station and sparked a fire, the witnesses said, with images posted on social media appearing to show the site in flames.
A source at the national electricity company told AFP that the damage had been minor, but witnesses reported a blackout in some parts of the capital following the attack.
The military source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said a strike on Wadi Seidna air base had been intercepted.
“Our air defense intercepted and shot down the drones that were targeting the base,” the source told AFP.
Another drone strike hit an army building in Kafuri, wounding several troops, another military source said.

- No peace in sight -

The RSF has in recent months been accused of widespread drone attacks in several army-controlled areas of Sudan, striking critical infrastructure and causing blackouts for millions.
Efforts to mediate between Sudan’s de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and his deputy-turned-rival, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have failed to yield a sustained ceasefire, with the military vowing to fight until victory.
The army-backed government has launched a vast reconstruction program in Khartoum, with around 600,000 people returning to their homes in recent months, according to the United Nations.
The war has devastated the capital, forcing around half of its nine million residents to flee.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
Some 10 million people are currently displaced inside the country, with most facing dire hunger, while another four million have sought refuge beyond its borders.
In recent months, Khartoum has seen a return of relative calm, with fighting concentrated in the country’s southern Kordofan and western Darfur regions, where the warring sides have wrestled for territory.
North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur still under army control, has seen some of the fiercest battles, with the RSF pressing an offensive to claim the city, which it has besieged since May 2024.
Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed in the area in recent months, where the UN said this month that the RSF has committed “myriad crimes against humanity” during its siege.