The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session Wednesday night after Israeli fighter jets carried out a rare strike in Doha targeting senior Hamas leaders, AFP reported. The meeting was convened at the request of Algeria and Pakistan.
Israel confirmed its forces attempted to eliminate several key figures in Hamas’s leadership, including Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal, and Zaher Jabarin — men central to both the group’s military command and its ceasefire negotiation teams. Hamas acknowledged five officials were killed, including Hayya’s son, though the fate of the top leaders remains unclear.
“This Council must decide: stand with terrorists or stand with their victims,” Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon said, condemning Algeria’s move to raise the issue. “Israel will not shy away and will continue to act decisively against Hamas leaders wherever they hide — Gaza, Lebanon, or Qatar — until the hostages are freed and our citizens are secure.”
The strike, launched Tuesday afternoon, came hours after a deadly terrorist attack in Jerusalem that killed six and wounded more than 20. Israeli officials framed the Doha operation as retaliation and a warning that Hamas’s political leadership is no longer untouchable.
But the attack has triggered global backlash. The UK, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Turkey, Italy, the Vatican, and the UN issued sharp condemnations, calling the operation a violation of international law and a dangerous escalation.
The United States, which was notified in advance, distanced itself. President Donald Trump said he “regretted” the move, stressing it was “a unilateral decision by Jerusalem.”
With the UN now seized of the issue, the fallout could reshape diplomatic dynamics across the Middle East, pitting Israel’s campaign of extraterritorial strikes against international pressure to rein in the war.
