It was early afternoon when the explosions started.

Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University in Doha, was teaching a class on Persian Gulf politics at the time.

Initially he joked about Qatar coming under attack, never imagining that less than 15 kilometres away, Israel was carrying out deadly air strikes on an upscale residential district.

"We were talking about Qatar's response to Iran's missile attack on the US Al Udeid base back in June," he told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

"And then we heard these loud booms and we joked, 'Oh, maybe it's the Iranians attacking again.'

"I thought they were just loud sounds in the background. I never would have imagined that they would be explosions."

When reality struck, the mood quickly turned to shock and disillusionment.

Israel

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