Israeli security officials expressed doubts Tuesday night regarding the success of the strike in Doha, Qatar, which targeted senior Hamas leaders.
At this stage, no final confirmation has been received that the high-ranking targets were eliminated in the operation. A security source told Kan News that the final conclusions are still unknown, but that it is possible that the strike did not achieve the desired result.
According to a report by Kan Reshet Bet, Israel informed the US that the chances that the Hamas officials were successfully eliminated "dropped significantly." Sources familiar with the talks between Washington and Jerusalem said that the operation "apparently did not meet our expectations," but added that investigations are still ongoing and the final result is not yet certain.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Turkey and Egypt had warned Hamas’s political leadership in Qatar in the weeks leading up to the Israeli strike. They also advised Hamas leaders to increase security around the organization's leadership meetings in Doha. The newspaper also noted that ten Israeli Air Force planes carried long-range weapons and fired from outside Qatar's airspace. According to the report, the planes did not enter Saudi or UAE airspace.
According to a statement from the Hamas terrorist organization, the strike killed Khalil al-Hayya’s office manager, Abu Bilal, al-Hayya's son, three other companions, and a Qatari police officer. However, according to one version also released by sources in the terror group, several senior Hamas leaders managed to escape the building shortly before the strike after receiving an early warning.