Hamas Leaders Survive Israeli Strike? Conflicting Reports Emerge
Israeli officials are increasingly casting doubt on the effectiveness of a military strike carried out in Doha, Qatar, targeting senior leaders of the Hamas political bureau on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.
Initial reports suggested the operation aimed to eliminate key figures in Hamas, but sources within Israel’s defence and intelligence community now indicate that the success of the strike may have been limited.
Anonymous sources quoted in several Hebrew-language media outlets, including Israeli media Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, expressed scepticism over whether the intended targets were killed.
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One source told Channel 12, “Right now there’s no indication that the terrorists were killed. We continue to hope they were assassinated, but optimism is fading.” Similar cautionary statements appeared in other reports, emphasising that a complete battle damage assessment is still ongoing.
Investigative journalist Ronen Bergman, writing in Ynet, shared that two defence and intelligence officials described the operation as “pessimistic regarding the lethality of the strike on most of the targets, and perhaps all of them.
From the Hamas perspective, the group confirmed that its top leaders survived the strike. A statement released on Tuesday indicated that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s top negotiator for Gaza, along with three bodyguards and the head of al-Hayya’s office.
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While Hamas occasionally delays confirmations about the fate of senior figures for months, the group has yet to provide evidence regarding the survival of al-Hayya and other senior leaders.
The strike in Qatar comes amid ongoing regional tensions and a series of Israeli operations targeting militant groups across the Middle East. Analysts suggest that even if the strike did not fully achieve its intended objective, it may still serve a psychological and strategic purpose by sending a message to Hamas leaders about the reach of Israeli intelligence and military capabilities.
As of now, both Israeli and Qatari authorities have not released official statements detailing the outcomes of the operation.
