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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israeli Strike Targets Hamas Leaders In Qatar; Poland Downs Russian Drones, First Time NATO Member Has Fired In Ukraine War. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2025 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, DC. It is Wednesday, September 10th, and we are following a developing story out of Poland where Polish forces shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm Becky Anderson coming to you live from Doha in Qatar. We are tracking the fallout from the deadly and unprecedented Israeli airstrike here nearly a day ago. The target of the attack, Hamas leaders negotiating a potential cease fire in Gaza.

Well, Hamas says the strike failed to take out its senior leadership, but did kill five members as well as a Qatari security official. Qatari is one of the United States closest allies in this region.

President Trump has been trying to distance himself from the strikes, saying it was not his decision and that by the time he found out it was too late to intervene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He's very unhappy about it, very unhappy about every aspect. And we got to get the hostages back, but I was very unhappy about the way that went down.

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ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile, Qatar's prime minister was visibly angry over the attack and denounced it as state terrorism.

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MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The Israeli attack that took place today on Qatari soil can only be called state terrorism. This message says that there is a rogue player in this region. We believe that today we have reached a pivotal moment where there must be a response from the entire region to such barbaric actions.

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ANDERSON: The Israeli prime minister defended the strike saying, quote, the days when the heads of terror enjoyed immunity anywhere are over. Flowers (ph) later, Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel accepted a new U.S. ceasefire proposal and claimed the Doha attack could speed up the end of the war.

Well, the Hostages and Missing Families forum say family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are following developments in Doha with deep concern and heavy anxiety. The mother of one Israeli hostage says this strike serves as a death sentence for her son, adding Netanyahu, quote, essentially executed him. The Israeli prime minister says Hamas could end the war immediately.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This action can open the door to an end of the war in Gaza. Israel has accepted the principles, the proposal put forward by President Trump to end the war, beginning with the immediate release of all our hostages, which have been held in the dungeons of Gaza for 700 days. If President Trump's proposal is accepted, the war can end immediately.

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ANDERSON: Well, let's cross over to CNN's Oren Liebermann live in Jerusalem. And a diplomat briefed on those talks told me just in the past hour or so that the negotiation team here in Doha, the Qatari negotiation team, was due to talk once again to the Hamas negotiators hosted here in Qatar at 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon to get their response.

They had been pushing Hamas very hard to respond positively to that U.S. initiative an hour and a quarter before they were due to meet once again with the Hamas leadership. The house that leadership were hosted in was targeted by Israel.

Oren, just get us up to speed on what we understand happened and how it happened from the Israeli perspective.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: So from the Israeli perspective, and that, of course, is key here, the assassination or targeting of senior Hamas leaders Israel claims was intended to or was supposed to be able to speed the negotiations and bring the war closer to an end.

[04:05:01]

Except for the problem that there's no evidence that's actually the case. It's a claim we heard after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza after Israel then killed his younger brother Mohammed Sinwar in Gaza and other senior Hamas officials. Each time after these we have heard that the death of a senior Hamas

leader brings the end of the war closer and yet we have not seen that actually happen. And it's the same case here, on top of the fact that it was Qatar that has repeatedly played a crucial role in negotiations, including hosting senior Hamas leaders. I'm sorry, senior Hamas leaders and senior Israeli leaders, for example, the head of the Mossad and other senior Israeli officials who are part of the negotiations.

Now, it's unclear if Qatar is willing to play that role, which means you only have Egypt. And it's also unclear that Egypt would be willing to play that role after Israel showed that it's willing to carry out and plan a strike against a non-enemy state as it goes after Hamas leaders.

Meanwhile, it's worth noting as you point out, that Qatar is host to the Al Udid Air Base, the largest air base in the region and a critical component there. Israel tried to distance the U.S. from the strike. In fact, it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said in a statement, today's action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation. Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.

We do understand that Israel notified the U.S. in advance, but it wasn't a direct political echelon to political echelon notification. In fact, according to U.S. officials, that notification was about as circuitous as it could have gotten. It was Israel in some fashion notifying the U.S. military chief who then notified the President, who then notified U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who then only was able to notify the Qataris.

So it seems that Israel chose to go that route to make the notification through to the U.S. and then to the Qataris as slow as possible as they carried out this strike. And we heard clearly their U.S. anger about how this was carried out and about the decision to carry out carry it out.

Nevertheless, Israel not backing down from this at all. I'll read one more statement here. This from Defense Minister Israel Katz.

He said, quote, terrorists have no and will have no immunity from the long arm of Israel anywhere in the world. A correct decision we made and perfect execution by the IDF and Shin Bet. Thanks to everyone and to the Holy One. Blessed be he who gives U.S. the strength to do great things.

From this point, Becky, it's unclear how Israel thinks that this brings the end of the war closer or how cease fire negotiations are supposed to continue. It's also worth noting that Israel didn't say it had accepted the U.S. President Trump's ceasefire proposal until hours after the strike had taken place. Netanyahu sang that only yesterday evening in Jerusalem.

ANDERSON: Oren, as I understand it, U.S. officials, sorry, as I understand it, officials have told CNN that this was a plan months in the making. How did, as we understand it, what are the details of this strike? How did Israel pull this off undetected by the very sophisticated anti air defense system that Qatar has here and in a city hosting a huge, the biggest U.S. base in this region?

LIEBERMANN: So it's actually two Israeli sources who told us this had been months in the making, two to three months to be more specific there. But the planning of it was accelerated in recent weeks. You're absolutely right to point out that Al Udid airbase has incredibly advanced U.S. air defense and detection systems. The sensors, for example, that detected the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles from back in June.

An Israeli security official told us that it was more than 10 fighter jets who carried out this strike using aerial refueling, using more than 10 aerial munitions to strike a single point, that spot where they believed Khalil al-Hayya and other senior Hamas officials were sheltering or were frankly were living or meeting.

It's almost certainly stealth F-35 fighter jets that likely flew through Syria and then Iraq to carry out a jet -- to carry out a strike like this, perhaps even overflying some of the Persian Gulf as well, to strike in Qatar. The planning that would have gone into this certainly would have taken into account American detection.

You also at some point need to notify the U.S. this is to happen so that they don't take their own defensive actions when they finally see these incoming jets and incoming missiles to try to take these out. So all of that would have been part of the planning. And this is a bit of speculation here.

You need to figure out at what point you need to notify the Americans as late as possible from what we see from the Israeli side to make sure they don't take defensive action here.

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We'll certainly try to learn more about how this was carried out. But more than 10 fighter jets used here in a way that made it as late as possible for the detection and notification of the operation.

ANDERSN: Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem. Thank you. Brian, and I'll just leave you with this. As we understand it, the Qatari negotiation team worked very late into the night on Monday putting pressure on Hamas. They, I am told to respond positively to this U.S. initiative on the table, the release of all hostages and the start of negotiations to end this war.

Those discussions went on through the night and into Tuesday morning with senior Israeli officials by phone. The Qatari mediators were then due to catch up with Hamas in the afternoon around 5:00 p.m. to get their official response to this initiative to effort a response in, a positive response to ensure that the bones of a deal to get the hostages out and a an end to this war effectively could be started.

The attack here happened at 3:46 in the afternoon, just an hour or so before those negotiations. Those mediators were due to speak to Hamas leadership once again. This targeted attack did kill six, including five Hamas lower level delegates as it were. Lower level assets that Hamas has here.

Perhaps in an administrative situation it did not achieve its full target, which was the assassination of Khalil al-Hayya who is the lead negotiator for the terror group here. And it also killed a Qatari security official who was detailed to that residence that was targeted. His funeral will be held here in Qatar as I understand it this afternoon. Brian.

ABEL: And Becky, I know you've been talking with your sources throughout the morning. We will be checking back with you as you learn more. Becky Anderson, thank you.

We're going to turn now to the developments out of Poland where the military there has shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace. The Polish Prime Minister said a quote, huge number of drones flew over Poland during Russia's attack on neighboring Ukraine and officials are now accusing Moscow of quote, an act of aggression.

Donald Trump also confirmed he was in constant contact with the head of NATO with the Netherlands scrambling its own jets to assist in defensive operations overnight. During that time, Polish authorities had shut down several major airports, including Warsaw International. Joining me now with the latest is CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman with more on this live from Rome. Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brian. Well this is being seen as a very serious incident, not just by Poland, but also by the E.U. and NATO as well. We heard from Ursula Van der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, saying, describing this as a reckless and unprecedented violation of Poland and Europe's sovereignty by airspace by than 10 Russian drones.

Now exactly how many Russian drones entered Polish territory is still not cleared. We saw that the Ukrainian air force was reporting that as part of the usual overnight Russian attacks that eight drones entered Polish territory. We are seeing unconfirmed reports that for instance one house in eastern Ukraine -- eastern Poland rather western Poland very near the Ukrainian border was hit by a drone causing damage but no casualties.

But clearly this is the most serious violation of the countries of NATO or E.U. airspace since the beginning of the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Now the Polish authorities have asked people to report anything that they may have seen a drone or whatever and clearly the authorities are trying to find wherever they are.

Now it's interesting, in addition to Polish aircraft being scrambled to confront these drones, also Dutch F-35 fighter planes were involved in this action as well.

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And it comes after, for instance, a night of yet again, intense Russian bombardment of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian military, 415 drones were fired into Ukraine as well as 43 missiles. And this comes after days and days of intense Russian attacks on Ukraine.

For instance, over the weekend, Saturday night into Sunday saw the largest drone attack by Russia since the beginning of the war with more than 800 drones fired into Ukraine. And this comes just, I believe, 25 days after I was in Kyiv reporting on the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska, when the U.S. President was boasting that he was going to make some sort of dramatic breakthrough to bring about a ceasefire or rather an end to the war in Ukraine.

Clearly, what we've seen since then is if anything, an escalation of Russian military activity in Ukraine. And certainly this drones entering Polish airspace, multiple drones definitely represents a serious escalation in the situation there. Brian.

ABEL: Aerial assaults continue. Ben Wedeman for us in Rome. Ben, thank you.

Still ahead, the manhunt for an accused killer in New York after an elderly couple were found beaten to death in their burning home.

Plus, another massive revision to the number of jobs added in the U.S. economy. We'll take a look at the new estimates after the break.

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ANDERSON: Well, I'm Becky Anderson in Doha the day after a targeted Israeli strike on a residence here in this city not very far from where I am standing now. The aim of that strike to take out senior Hamas leadership housed here and hosted here in Qatar during ceasefire talks and negotiations.

Qatar, of course, a lead negotiator trying to find a solution to the war in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages held in the enclave.

So for more on this, I'd like to bring in Alon Pinkas. He is the former Israeli Consul General in New York. He joins me this hour live from Tel Aviv. There are a lot of unanswered questions really about who knew what when.

Certainly, the Qataris say that they were given absolutely no warning about this strike despite the fact that they have sort of, you know, security guarantees from the US. They host one of the biggest U.S. base here in the region. They say they were given no warning. They actually found out about the attack 10 minutes after it happened at 3:45 yesterday afternoon here. The U.S. president distancing himself from this as well.

What is your sense as to whether this plan as we understand it months in the making from sources in Israel? What's your sense as to whether this plan would have been known about by the United States and would have been given the green light? ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: I doubt there

was ever a green light, Becky. I mean the question of what the US knew and when it knew it, you covered and I don't think we have clear answers because there were conflicting reports coming out from Washington in the last 12 hours as well as from Jerusalem. And you can't really ascertain or independently verify who knew what and exactly when.

But as you know, the spectrum of pre notification is pretty broad and wide, meaning that there is a technical notification when Israel informs CENTCOM in order to fulfill the IFF, the identify friend foe in terms of airplane flight paths.

And so there could have been a very dry, very technical pre- notification to CENTCOM without divulging, without telling the revealing what the actual target is. The second possibility is that the U.S. wwas notified when the planes were in the air.

It does take time to fly from Israel to Qatar, particularly since apparently it did not -- the planes did not fly over Saudi air, which means airspace, which means that the only other flight path goes through Syria, Iraq and down south above the Gulf into Qatar. And then there were reports that the U.S. actually did know about it.

So I don't know, but it sure as hell put Mr. Netanyahu in a bind because, you know, his sense that he could do whatever he wants with immunity and impunity because Trump likes him or Trump supports him with Trump has Israel back may be now tested and he may not like the result.

ANDERSON: He was described by the Qatar prime minister here last night as narcissistic. The prime minister described this attack as state terrorism by a rogue player in the region.

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He said that the world now sees Israel for what it is under President Netanyahu -- under Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is a bully in the region.

Let's just talk about the significance of what happened here in this small Gulf nation, a key strategic ally of the United States, and what you believe the consequences might be both for a ceasefire and hostage deal and for U.S. relations with its Gulf partners going forward. There is shock and real anger in this region of the Gulf today.

PINKAS: That's perfectly understandable. OK, so you asked three questions, each of which deserves a half hour answer, which of course we don't have time for. Look, there have been accusations and criticism of Mr. Netanyahu that he has become unhinged, that he has become intoxicated with technological, tactical technological successes, although it is doubtful whether this was a success, but that remains to be seen. And that he -- in the interest of prolonging, of protracting the war, he has been doing things that were detached from any political reality. The attacks on the Syrian military in Damascus a month ago, the attack

yesterday in Doha, even you go back to June, the attack on Iran, these were all acts of someone who completely intoxicated with military power, trying to conceal the fact that the Israeli military did not necessarily succeed in what he called total victory and annihilation of Hamas in Gaza.

The second thing pertains to Qatar itself. Look, it's not just an American ally that hosts El Ude Air Force Base, as you know, because you are there. It's also a major non NATO ally designated by law in the U.S. since 2022. It is also a country that has a lot of business with the Trump family, let alone huge procurement of American arms and pledges to 200 747 or 787 from Boeing.

So we're looking at a country that thought it was shielded by its alliance with America and found out that it's actually not. And the U.S. looks bad either way. If they knew when they let it happen, they look bad. If they didn't know, then what kind of influence and control do they have over a staunch ally and a close ally like Israel?

The third thing that you asked was about the hostage deal and how this will play out. Look, the conventional wisdom right now is that Mr. Netanyahu did this in order to definitely and conclusively derail and undermine any kind of talks. Because you didn't just target the negotiators, you also targeted the mediators, both Hamas, the Hamas gentlemen that were there and the Qataris themselves.

Parenthetically, Becky, if these people deserve to die, and let's assume they did because of their complicity on October 7th and what have you in acts of terror, then why did Israel wait 23 months, almost two years before targeting them and has done so or tried to do so in Qatar?

This all smells like no hostage deal at this point. But let me add one fourth possibility here. However counterintuitive this looks to us, this may end the war. Because if the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is angry enough, livid enough, disillusioned enough, he can end the war in one phone call.

So whatever it was that Mr. Netanyahu tried to do, and his threats of an imminent offensive in Gaza, encircling Gaza City, ordering the evacuation of almost a million people, this act in and of itself could actually end the war. But that depends one person, and that is Donald Trump.

ANDERSON: Alon Pinkas is in Tel Aviv. It's always good to have you. Thank you very much for your insight and your analysis. Brian.

This is a city on the move once again. My observations were regular rush hour this morning. The kids are in school. I mean, there is, you know, an obvious effort here to ensure that everybody feels safe, feels secure, gets on with their business as usual in a small Gulf nation which prides itself on its security and its stability.

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