JERUSALEM − Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country "takes full responsibility" for an unprecedented airstrike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.

"Today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation," Netanyahu's office said in a statement Sept. 9. "Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility."

Israel launched the attack on Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar's capital, on Sept. 9. The strike is an expansion of military actions that have ranged across the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base.

Reuters and Al Jazeera, citing Hamas sources, reported that Hamas negotiators targeted by Israel had survived. Air raid sirens wailed in Jerusalem around 8 p.m. local time as the military reported an incoming rocket attack from Yemen and residents briefly took cover.

White House condemns Qatar attack

The White House scolded Israel for its attack on a U.S. ally.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America's goals," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”

Leavitt told reporters the White House learned of the attacks from the Pentagon "just before" they occurred and President Donald Trump spoke with Netanyahu afterwards. She said the U.S. military was notified "just before the attack," but did not respond when asked by whom.

"The Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar," Leavitt said.

Response to fatal Jerusalem shooting

In a joint statement with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu said the strikes were approved after six Israelis were shot dead by Palestinian gunmen outside Jerusalem on Sept. 8. Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for that attack.

The families of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, "are following the developments in Doha with deep concern and heavy anxiety," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. "A grave fear now hangs over the price that the hostages may pay."

Israeli opposition lawmaker Shelley Tal Meron also expressed concern for the hostages.

"Israel’s intelligence and security forces will reach anyone who seeks to harm us, no matter where they hide," she told USA TODAY. "At the same time, it’s important to remember that above all achievements, Israel’s highest duty is to the 48 hostages still in Gaza, after 704 days. Their safe return cannot be compromised in any way we must bring them all home now."

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said Israel's "criminal assault' was "a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar."

'No going back'

The Gulf emirate of Qatar has played in important role in negotiations over the Gaza war, which has killed 60,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, and Hamas officials have used the country as their international political base for years.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told USA TODAY the strike in Doha reflected the "new Middle East" after Oct.7. "With Hamas, we have the obligation to destroy all the remnants, wherever they are."

"No going back to how it was before," he said.

It was unclear if or how ceasefire negotiations would continue after Israel's attack on one of the talks' main sponsors.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the strikes as a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.”

He said Qatar has been playing a positive role in talks for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. “All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it," Guterres told reporters.

Pope Leo expresses concern

Pope Leo, who typically refrains from speaking off the cuff, expressed unusually forceful concern about the consequences of Israel's strike in Qatar.

"There's some really serious news right now: Israel's attack on some Hamas leaders in Qatar," the pontiff told journalists outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

"The entire situation is very serious," Leo said. "We do not know how things will go. It is really serious."

But Danny Dannon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, defended the attack.

"The precise strike in Doha targeted senior Hamas leaders who planned the October 7 massacre and celebrated while our citizens were abducted," he wrote on X. "I commend our security forces for this courageous and precise operation." Qatar's Al Jazeera television, citing a Hamas source, said the attack targeted Hamas Gaza ceasefire negotiators.

Several blasts were heard in Doha, witnesses said.

Plumes of black smoke billowed from the city's Legtifya gas station. Next door to the station is a small residential compound that has been patrolled by Qatar’s elite Amiri Guard 24 hours a day since the beginning of the Gaza conflict.

Israel media, citing a senior Israeli official, said the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator.

Contributing: Reuters; Joey Garrison, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netanyahu takes credit for Israeli strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar

Reporting by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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