Doha: Khalil al-Hayya, the highest-ranking Hamas leader abroad, survived an Israeli strike in Qatar, according to a member of the Islamist group. A son of al-Hayya and his chief of staff were killed, the Hamas official, Suhail al-Hindi, told the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.
According to Ghana News Agency, other Arab media outlets with close ties to Qatar reported similar accounts of the incident. Qatar's Interior Ministry stated that one security officer was killed and several others were injured in the strike. Several individuals connected to Hamas reportedly died in the attack, and multiple fatalities were confirmed by Hamas sources to the dpa. The organization has not yet issued a public statement on its official channels following the strike.
Al-Hayya has a history of personal loss in the ongoing conflict with Israel. He previously lost several family members, including his wife, three children, and three brothers, when Israel's military bombed his home in the Gaza Strip in 2007, an attack he survived.
The latest incident comes amidst a series of targeted killings by Israel, which has claimed the lives of numerous senior Hamas leaders and commanders in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict nearly two years ago. Among those killed were Yahya al-Sinwar and Mohammed Deif. Additionally, former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a strike in Tehran last year.
