Israel bombs Qatar's Doha, orders mass evacuations from Gaza City

Israel has launched a strike targeting Hamas' leadership in Qatar on Tuesday, officials said, further widening its campaign against the militant group as negotiations over ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip appear to stall.

Black smoke rose over the skyline of the Qatari capital, Doha, with authorities there acknowledging the strike. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the attack, marking the second time the energy-rich nation has been directly attacked in the nearly two years of conflict that have gripped the wider Middle East since Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

It wasn't immediately clear how the attack was carried out, though an Israeli military spokesman referred to Israel's air force carrying out the strike. Qatar Airways continued landing in Doha amid the strike, even as at least one Qatari air force aircraft took off on patrol over the country.

Qatar condemned what it referred to as a "cowardly Israeli attack" on Hamas' political headquarters in Doha. Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari called it a "flagrant violation of all international laws and norms."

There were conflicting reports as to whether the U.S. was aware of, or approved, the attack before it happened.

Hamas' exiled leadership has long been based in Qatar, which has served as a mediator in talks between Hamas and Israel for several years, even before the latest war in the Gaza Strip.

Mass evacuation ordered for Gaza City

The Israeli military urged a full evacuation of Gaza City on Tuesday morning ahead of its planned expanded offensive in the northern city, where hundreds of thousands of people are struggling under conditions of famine.

The Israeli military airdropped leaflets with evacuation orders onto residents standing amid the rubble of Gaza City, where it has bombed residential towers to the ground in the past few days.

The announcement was the first warning for a full evacuation of the city in the current round of fighting. Previously, the military has warned specific sections of Gaza City to evacuate ahead of concentrated operations or strikes.

Residents of the city, the enclave's biggest urban centre that was home to a million Palestinians before the conflict, have been expecting an onslaught for weeks, since the Israeli government devised a plan designed to deal Hamas a fatal blow in what it says are the militant group's last strongholds.

Israel said it has demolished 50 high-rise buildings in Gaza in the past two days, which it accused Hamas of using for military infrastructure. On September 8th, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the demolition of the high-rises "only the introduction, only the beginning of the main intensive operation — the ground incursion of our forces."

Tensions continue to rise in the West Bank

Two 14-year-old Palestinian boys were killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on September 8, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said the incident happened in the northern West Bank City of Jenin, where several people approached Israeli soldiers in a way that "posed a threat." The area was under military closure and entry was prohibited at the time, the military said, without providing further information.

Also in the West Bank, an Israeli investigation continued into two Palestinians who opened fire at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people. It was the deadliest attack against civilians in Israel in nearly a year.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, though Israel's Shin Bet internal security service said the two attackers had no known militant ties and no prior arrests.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday he placed sanctions on the relatives and residents of the towns where the two attackers are from, will order all buildings constructed without permits to be demolished, and canceled 750 work visas for town residents.