Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Sunday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza. Israel targeted Hamas leadership in Doha in air strikes that Qatar condemned.

“The Hamas terrorist chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza. They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war. Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

HAMAS ON ISRAEL’S ATTACK ON DOHA

Hamas has stated that its senior leaders and members of its negotiating team survived; however, five of its members, including a son of its exiled Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya, were killed in the attack. Qatar has said a member of its internal security forces was killed.

Hamas has described the Doha attack as an ‘assassination of the entire negotiation process’, asserting that it would not change the group’s terms for ending the war in Gaza.

Israel has demanded that Hamas free all remaining hostages held in Gaza and disarm. Hamas says it will not free all hostages without an agreement that would end the war, and will not give up its weapons until Palestinians have an independent state.

– Ends

(With inputs from Reuters)

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