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One World with Zain Asher

Hamas Tells CNN its Negotiators were Targeted; U.S. Embassy in Doha Issues Shelter-in-Place Order; U.S. Officials Say Trump Administration was Notified Prior to the Attack; Qatari Foreign Minister: This was a "Cowardly" Attack and a "Criminal Assault"; Israel Targets Hamas Leadership in Qatar Strike. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired September 09, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Paula Newton, and this is "One World". And we begin, of course, with our

breaking news. Qatar is slamming Israel for an attack carried out on its capital, calling it cowardly and a criminal assault that constitutes a

blatant violation of international laws.

Now, Israel confirms it did carry out the strike in Doha with its internal security service Shin Bet to try and assassinate top Hamas leadership. I

need to underscore how extraordinary those scenes you are seeing right now from Doha are an Israeli official says the U.S., in fact, was informed

ahead of the attack, and it comes amid a renewed effort by the United States to try and push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Qatar, a key U.S. ally, we remind you, has been a primary negotiator and mediator in these talks since the war began nearly two years ago. CNN's

Becky Anderson joins me now live from Abu Dhabi, and has been following all of this. I mean, Becky, as you know so well, really seismic events here in

the last few hours.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: Yeah. I mean, it cannot be understated or overstated, just how shocking this will be for Qatar, for

Qataris, for this region of the Gulf, I've heard this quote precision strike by Israel in the last couple of hours described by some commentators

as audacious.

The Qataris themselves, as you have rightly suggested, describing this as a cowardly and criminal assault that constitutes a blatant violation of

international laws and norms. And the State of Qatar went on to say, while strongly condemning this attack, the State of Qatar emphasizes that it will

not tolerate this reckless and irresponsible Israeli behavior.

A senior Hamas official confirmed to CNN that the group's negotiators were targeted in Doha. What we do not know at this stage is whether any of that

senior leadership were killed in this attack. Look, you've just been showing some images there shot in Doha at the time of this Israeli strike

on Qatar region in Doha.

This was an aerial strike on a block of flats, as I understand it from a source there, and you see the sheer panic and horror of those people in

this video as this strike came. Look, let's remind ourselves that this is Doha in Qatar. Doha hosts the headquarters of CENTCOM. It has the largest

U.S. military base in the region.

And this is a strike on a sovereign nation, the likes of which this region will really be befuddled by. I mean, you know, it's very hard to come up

with a term that really describes just what's happened here as we understand it, the Israelis informed the U.S. ahead of their decision,

although they say nobody else was involved in this attack. It was an attack by Israel, conducted by Israel with no other support.

I've spoken to sources in Qatar, who tell me they were given no warning whatsoever of this. And the leadership there will be deciding how they

respond. We are seeing statements of support from around the region, not least here in the UAE, reflecting similar language from Qatar.

The UAE, talking about this as a cowardly and criminal assault, talking about this being a blatant violation of international laws. And let's

remind ourselves, it was only back in June that Doha was the target of an attack by Iran on the U.S. Air Base there. And at the time, I was told it

would take Qataris a long time to get over the fact that this state was targeted, Paula. This is a dramatic turn of events in this region.

NEWTON: Yeah, absolutely. And puts the entire region really destabilizes it. I do want to underscore, as you were saying, that Benjamin Netanyahu

says Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it. Israel takes full responsibility. Grateful to you. Becky Anderson, as we continue to follow

the breaking news.

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We do want to bring in CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, I can only imagine your thoughts when this came through and we were able to

confirm the news and then see some of the video. Let's start there, where I left off at the Prime Minister's Office, Benjamin Netanyahu. And I do point

out to our audience that it is extremely rare, not just Israel carrying out this strike, but taking responsibility for it within a few hours of having

conducted the strike.

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah, unapologetically, which signals to me that Israel feels like it had at least the tacit backing of

the White House to go ahead and do this, even though a senior Qatari official tells me they had just taken the new proposal from Trump's Envoy

Steve Witkoff that they had gotten from Witkoff in Paris.

They had briefed it to the Hamas officials in Doha yesterday, and those Hamas officials were discussing it today. So, the Qataris had not given up

on this last-ditch attempt to get some sort of resolution to release all of the Israeli hostages in a 48-hour period and head off the Israeli defense

force incursion into Gaza City, which is densely populated, and a lot of people have told CNN that they are refusing to move.

So, it was at this 11th hour attempt when we were all hoping that peace would prevail, and instead, Israel didn't give the Hamas organization a

chance to answer by going ahead and doing this strike. I don't see how you move forward with peace talks, which to me means we're looking at an

imminent Israeli incursion into Gaza City with all the casualties that that will bring.

NEWTON: Yeah, it certainly seems that the Israeli government there, and the prime minister in particular, making a calculated risk here that he was

going to throw out any chance at negotiations. I do want to talk -- I want to talk about the wider regional implications. But let's turn first Kim to,

you know -- to the families right now.

First to the families of the hostages, one of them posting on social media a mother saying that, basically Benjamin Netanyahu has just executed my

son. Those are her words on social media. If you are one of the families, hoping, praying that finally, some deal was possible. This is truly

alarming.

DOZIER: This is terrifying, and it goes against what the Israeli Defense Force leadership had been urging Netanyahu. They had been saying, try for

one more exchange, because we don't think we can get the hostages out alive from the tunnels where they're hidden. There are supposed to be about 20

still alive out of the 48 still missing.

But what Hamas has promised to do is wherever they're hidden inside these tunnels, as the Israeli forces approach, they have said that they will

execute them, and that was before their top leadership got, apparently taken out in Doha. We still don't have an estimate of casualties on the

ground of how many Hamas officials might have been killed.

I'm not even sure what sort of munition was definitely used to strike them. But this is very grim if you are an Israeli hostage family, or if you are a

Gaza family in Gaza City, and you've moved around the Gaza area multiple times and you don't have the strength to move one more time. This is a

terrible day.

NEWTON: Yeah. And let's think about those families in Gaza, in Gaza City, in particular, Kim, if you are in that city right now, and there are

hundreds of thousands of people are trapped there with nowhere to go, you have just been told by the IDF, via leaflet and other methods, to leave.

And they consider not only can they not leave, but they have nowhere safe to go. Is there any doubt here that the IDF, on orders of the Netanyahu

government, will continue right now in Gaza City, because they believe that is how they will root out the Hamas leadership, because they are basically

entrenched there in Gaza City.

DOZIER: Yeah, the Israeli Defense Force Arabic Language Spokesman put out a statement saying, you know, you have to move to Mawasi, which is near the

Coast. It's an area where there are a lot of aid stations set up, but it's an area that also has been struck several times. Just because it's where

all the aid is, the IDF has said it doesn't mean they're not going to strike if they find a target there.

So, if you're a Gazan, from their perspective, why go from one place to another that has been struck several times in the past? But what the IDF is

saying they're going to do with Gaza City is that basically they're going to go through every single standing building.

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They have argued in various statements that underneath every building and inside every building, Hamas has various staging points for fighters or

weapons or tunnel access underneath. So that means nothing is going to be left untouched. I don't know how much of it will be left standing.

The U.N. already estimates that something like 70 percent of all the buildings in all of Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. So that leaves the

civilians with no safe places, in their opinion, from their point of view, to go to with this impending operation that will surely affect every single

person who remains.

NEWTON: Yeah, and make no mistake, these events are linked, right? They are going -- Israel now going after the Hamas negotiators, those leaders in

Doha and now saying they will stop at nothing to get to that militant leadership, Hamas leadership in Gaza City. Kim Dozier, grateful to you.

Will continue to follow developments and bring you into the conversation.

I do want to go now to Kevin Liptak, who's at the White House. I mean, Kevin, look, there is this issue of plausible deniability, right? Our

sources tell us that the U.S. was informed. I wonder what the White House is saying now, and obviously a lot at stake that they cannot avoid. I mean,

look, the U.S. Embassy is saying here in Doha to Americans, shelter in place. And the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East resides in

Qatar.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, the Headquarters of Central Command. There Al Udeid Air Base, thousands of American troops

positioned there. We do understand now, just in the last couple of minutes or so, from two U.S. officials, that the U.S. did get a heads up from

Israel that it was planning out this strike.

I think one of the big questions is, how much of a heads up that the U.S. got? Was there time for potentially, the U.S. to try and alter some of the

plans here? Or did President Trump and his administration essentially give a tacit green light for Israel to move forward here? We don't have the

precise answers there.

We will hear from Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, in about two hours, when she comes out to the White House podium to brief. But

the timing here, I think, is pretty important.

You know, President Trump, just on Sunday, said that he thought a hostage deal in Gaza could happen very soon after he put forward this new proposal

that would allow for the release of all of the hostages from Gaza, all 48 of them, in exchange for Israel halting its campaign in Gaza City.

But he also put out quite a stark warning, writing that I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting this deal, saying that this is my

last warning. There will not be another one. So, it's an open question of whether the president issued that warning with the knowledge that

potentially this action could be in the offing.

We also understand that just yesterday, the top advisor to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, was in the United States meeting

with Steve Witkoff, who's the president's top foreign envoy, who has been intimately involved in some of these discussions to try and bring the Gaza

war to an end.

Now all of this, I think, is going to have a massive effect on U.S. ties to Qatar. You know, the Qataris have spent the last several months, actually,

you know, the last several years, dating back to the first administration, trying to cultivate President Trump, trying to cultivate some of his

advisors. President Trump was the first sitting U.S. President to visit Qatar back in May.

And as I mentioned, the U.S. Central Command has its forward headquarters there at Al Udeid Air Base. And in fact, you know, the Qataris have said

for the last several years that it was actually the United States who asked them to host Hamas' political leadership in Doha in order to facilitate

some of these negotiations that you've been seeing taking place since the October 7th terror attack.

So, how this affects that relationship, which is quite a critical relationship, not only for the region, but also kind of for, you know,

global diplomacy, how that proceeds, in addition to all of the other critical us relationships, and -- you know, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia,

all of these countries who have now come out very quickly to decry what Israel has done on the ground in Doha.

So certainly, more to be learned about what the U.S. knew ahead of time, whether the U.S. has any particular opinion about whether this was a useful

exercise. But I think for President Trump's efforts to bring about the end to the war in Gaza, I'm not sure how this will be helpful in any way.

NEWTON: Yeah, and the president has been very clear, one that Qatar is a very close strategic ally for the United States. But I'm Kevin -- I'm glad

that you pointed out his social media posts. I mean, he said, just on the 7th right as you point out, this is my last warning. There will not be

another one he says to Hamas.

We have not heard from the U.S. Ambassador Huckabee yet in Israel, but I am wondering what they are likely to say?

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Because they have to, if they say that they weren't given a heads up, that's fine, but they will be asked, right if they condemn this, and

obviously those in the region are condemning it, as is the U.N. Secretary General?

LIPTAK: Yeah, and it's notable that we haven't heard from Mike Huckabee. He is a voluble presence on social media, and so the fact that he hasn't

necessarily weighed in, I think, probably tells you quite a bit. But you're right, the U.S. and the White House and the State Department are going to

have to walk a delicate balance here.

Certainly, I don't think anyone would necessarily mourn if leaders of Hamas were taken out. That's probably true quietly of a lot of capitals in the

region as well. I think the question is the timing here, whether this was a useful exercise in trying to achieve the president's ultimate goal, which

is ending the war in Gaza.

You know these negotiations had been underway just yesterday to try and get Hamas on board with this proposal. I think when you talk to people who are

involved in these negotiations, they say that the proposal that the president put on the table wasn't necessarily one that Hamas was going to

take, you know, if they release all of their hostages at once, that it says essentially all of their bargaining chips.

And so, whether it was a realistic proposal or not, you know, that's up for debate. But I think going into Doha and targeting the people who would have

to sign off on any agreement, I think, is going to be a hindrance to try and bring the war to an end and potentially a setback. But I think if

you're the White House, what you're doing right now is to try and sort of align the president's objectives with what Israel has done.

You know, President Trump, in the past, has not been shy about criticizing some of Israel's actions, in particular, its military actions outside of

its own borders. You know, President Trump had said that he was surprised, for example, that Israel was targeting Damascus some months ago.

I don't think that this is necessarily going to fall into that category, but I think it's now the objective of the White House to try and figure out

how to message what is happening here without causing these talks to fall apart entirely.

NEWTON: Yeah. Kevin Liptak, grateful to you. We'll remind everyone we have a White House briefing in less than two hours, and we expect to see the

president late this afternoon, at about 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Kevin Liptak for us at the White House, appreciate the update.

Still ahead for us, clouds of smoke seen from a highway in Doha as Israel carries out a strike on Hamas targets in Qatar. We'll have much more on

this breaking news just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:00]

NEWTON: And welcome back. We are following a major breaking story out of the Middle East at this hour. Israel has carried out a strike targeting

senior Hamas leaders in Qatar's capital. There is no definitive word yet on any casualties, but a senior Israeli official does tell CNN they are

awaiting the results of that strike in Doha.

Now, Qatar calls the attack a criminal assault, and we want to show you some video now that was shot by someone on the scene as those strikes were

happening, let's listen.

I want to bring in Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark. He's also the Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and the Founder of Renew America

Together. Good to have you here with us as we continue to parse this breaking news. I mean, that video, this is the middle of Doha, right?

You could imagine the panic there on the streets of Doha. I mean, it'd be like there'd be negotiations going on in the middle of Switzerland, a so-

called mutual country, and all of a sudden, you'd have an air strike. This must have also surprised you, right?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Yes, it did, and it must have been terrifying to the people on the ground. But you

know, putting this in perspective as I'm thinking about this, you may recall that several years ago, the Israelis tried to take out some

terrorists in the Emirates.

And they fumbled the operation. They were picked up on TV. They got shot at. I think somebody was killed. Nothing really worked. So, I think you

know, that accounts for why they didn't use a sort of on the ground, stealthy method to go after Hamas. Now that's the technical side.

The question is the larger side, the diplomatic side, U.S. engagement and so forth, and what it means in the region. And there'll be a lot of

opinions coming on this. I think you know, my initial feeling is on this, that this is the Israeli policy. They're not going to -- that they put up

with the negotiations long enough, and they want to finish this fight, and that's what the government in Israel is being driven into.

That's the government that doesn't have the full support of the Israeli people, but it is the government in power in Israel. And it has said it's

going to finish the fight against Hamas. This is part of Hamas, and this is their way of finishing that fight.

NEWTON: And they continue to say that it is a righteous fight and that they will have no choice. Do you believe they have been emboldened, though, by

what has gone on in Lebanon, what has gone on in Iran? And I do point out that, you know, the Israeli Defense Minister only admitted in December,

months after they had taken out, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas in Tehran.

And here we have an admission from Benjamin Netanyahu, plainly saying we are responsible us alone within hours of this strike.

CLARK: Yep, the Israelis have definitely responded to the events of October 7th in a powerful way, and it completely turned the table on Iran. And --

the agents in the region -- striking on October 7th, they would mobilize Arab opinion, there would be a

second front opened in the north. Iran would come in and help them and it didn't happen that way.

And instead, it gave Israel the opening to finish the job against Hezbollah in the north and in Syria. And they've done a pretty good job against that,

speaking militarily and to go after the Iranians themselves, and that was stopped by President Trump. Before we could execute, they could execute

regime change.

I can tell you I'm hearing from many Iranians that the Israelis stopped too soon in their attacks in Iran that that regime was vulnerable. It could

have fallen. It could have changed utterly the dynamics in the Middle East and we, didn't -- we, the United States stop that.

So, this is a contained conflict. I know that was the president's aim, but you have Israel, which has for 70 years in the region, recognized that its

only real answer to security threats was to respond by force, and that's what it's done.

NEWTON: I do want to get your opinion on that issue of containment, so let's deal with the fallout first, regionally there. I mean, obviously

we've had condemnation from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, obviously, Qatar itself.

[11:25:00]

And yet, what do you believe they can do now, if anything, in terms of putting their protest and it meaning something more than a statement or

words?

CLARK: I think all of these countries in the region have to protest. It is about public opinion in the region, and if you're living in that region and

you're a citizen of those countries, of course, you don't want Israel coming in and bombing and creating mayhem. So yes, they're all responsive

to their own public opinion and to their responsibilities, but they also recognize that Hamas has been a real problem.

It started the problem on October 7th. And so, I think they've got to find the right balance between condemning Israel and finding the right course

ahead. These leaders in the region are very nuanced. They're very experienced. They will find a way to work through this.

NEWTON: So, you don't believe that there will be necessarily a pronounced reaction in any way other than statements and protests from these

governments.

CLARK: Well, I think you'll get the protests. I think you'll get some reaction. I think people will say, you know, this sets back the Abraham

Accords, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But you know, Israel is going to plow ahead in Gaza, no matter what public opinion is, no matter what the

world opinion is on this.

They're determined to finish the job against Hamas, and unless the United States intervenes and tries to stop this and could stop it. I'm not even

sure we could, with U.S. support stop it. But this is going to continue until this is resolved and Hamas is gone, and I think that's the message in

the region.

And so, I think for the leaders in the region, they have to look at it as a sort of mixed message. On the one hand, they certainly don't want the

violation of sovereignty. They certainly don't want the upheaval and public outcry that affects their governments, as well as the outcry directed

against Israel.

But on the other hand, they recognize that Hamas is an agent of destruction in the region, and one of the reasons it struck in October 7th, at the

behest of Iran was to disrupt the Abraham Accords, which are in the interest of the countries in the region that will come back. So, it's going

to be a rough period. They'll get through it.

NEWTON: And General Clark, then that brings us to the U.S. reaction. And we already had Kevin Liptak at the White House saying that, look, this is

going to be a very fine line to walk for the White House. They have what you call plausible deniability, right? They can say they perhaps were

notified ahead of time but couldn't do anything to stop it. Would it have been in the U.S. interest to try and stop something like this?

CLARK: You know, I think there'd be a big debate inside the U.S. government about this, on whether to stop it or not. On the one hand, of course,

anything that would just eliminate Hamas get those hostages back? Sure. I mean, that's a great victory from the American perspective.

But on the other hand, there had to have been American foreknowledge of this in some way, because the overflights of the Israeli Aircraft, there's

an American air base in Qatar. So those Israeli Aircraft, or their ordinance somehow would have been picked up on radar, would have been

picked up by the patriot defense batteries, something stood those down.

And so, yeah, there has to have been some pre coordination of this. How much there was? What the United States said? My guess is the United States

did not want to tell Israel, and may have told them previously, don't do this. But it may be that at this point in the peace talks that the United

States has said, look, this is so frustrating.

These people have found so many ways to block every suggestion that Israel has made the United States has made that go ahead. I think that's probably

what happened inside the administration.

NEWTON: Yeah, and perhaps President Trump, you know, previewing that by saying, you know, a couple of days ago, this is my last warning, and

directing that towards Hamas. General Clark, as always, so grateful to you in terms of pointing out the diplomacy, but also the technical aspects of

this. Thanks so much.

Still ahead for us, Israel says it takes full responsibility for the operation in Qatar, targeting Hamas leadership, we will be live in

Jerusalem with the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

NEWTON: Welcome back. I'm Paula Newton in New York. And we go to our breaking news out of the Middle East. Just a short time ago, Israel carried

out an attack on Qatar, hitting a building in Doha, where it says senior leaders of Hamas' political wing were staying. Israel describes it as a

precise strike and says it was targeting top Hamas terrorists.

It came at a time the U.S. has been pushing for ceasefire negotiations in the hope of freeing the last Israeli hostages and holding off Israel's

planned assault on Gaza City. We have no word yet about casualties from today's attack. CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me now live from Jerusalem.

And Jeremy, you can bring us right up to date. I know you've been speaking to your sources in the last few hours in terms of reaction there in Israel.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that this is going to have a seismic impact, not only here in Israel, but across

the region. As the Israeli military confirms that it has carried out this strike in order to try and kill Hamas' senior political leadership based in

the Qatari capital of Doha.

There are several elements of this that are just absolutely earth shattering. One of which is the fact that it took place in Qatar, which is

a sovereign state where Israel has never before, as far as we know, conducted military operations. The second aspect of this, of course, is the

timing.

The fact that it came just days after the United States unveiled its latest effort to try and reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel

and Hamas, pushing for Hamas to release all of the Israeli hostages on the first day of such an agreement, in exchange for a ceasefire and

negotiations that would be aimed at ending the war in Gaza altogether.

Now, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office has released a statement claiming that Israel acted on its own here and that it will accept responsibility

and the consequences of its own actions here. An Israeli official telling us that Israel did indeed notify the United States before carrying out this

strike. Questions will be raised about how much and when the United States knew about this strike in particular because it took place on the soil of a

key U.S. ally.

Qatar is home to the largest U.S. military base, the Al Udeid Base in Qatar, it is the largest U.S. military base in the entire Middle East. And

so that will also be another wrinkle here. But questions are already being asked in Israel about the timing of this strike.

[11:35:00]

Why Israel's political leaders felt that now was the moment to carry out this strike? Why at this delicate moment of ceasefire and hostage release

negotiations? These are questions that are being asked by the families of the hostages who are still held in the Gaza Strip, who are now wracked with

anxiety about what this strike actually means for the future of those ceasefire and hostage release negotiations.

In particular, because we're not just talking about Hamas' leader that was targeted in this strike, but Hamas' chief negotiator as well, one in the

same man, Khalil al-Hayya, who has been the key interlocutor between -- with the mediators, via, via the mediators, with Israel, ultimately in the

ceasefire and hostage release negotiations.

No word yet on how successful this strike actually was from the Israeli point of view. I'm told that a battle damage assessment which is conducted

following a strike is still pending. Not clear yet whether Hamas' leadership has indeed been assassinated in the manner in which Israel

sought to do here, Paula.

NEWTON: Before I let you go. Jeremy, the reaction from the families of the hostages, right? We had a brother of one of the hostages on CNN a short

time ago saying that he does not believe this is the time to target Hamas leadership, that it would endanger the life of his brother.

DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right. And we've also heard more broadly, from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which said that they are anxious to

see how this will actually impact the prospects of these negotiations, very nervous about the impact that this may have, and again, questioning the

timing of all of this. Why did Israel's leadership feel that now was the moment to do this at such a delicate moment?

Many will very quickly turn to blame the Israeli Prime Minister for prioritizing his political interests first. We have seen that before the

Israeli Prime Minister, for his part, his office has said that the prime minister approved this strike following the attack that was carried out by

two Hamas gunmen in Jerusalem just yesterday that killed six Israelis and left more than a dozen wounded.

The prime minister didn't say that it was solely because of that attack. He also pointed, of course, to Hamas leadership's responsibility, in his view,

for the October 7th attack. But there was no question that he was trying to draw a connection here between this terrorist attack that happened

yesterday in Jerusalem and the targeting of Hamas' leadership today.

But make no mistake, an operation like this does not come together in that period of time. Furthermore, Hamas only claimed responsibility for that

attack within about an hour of that attack in Qatar actually taking place today, but that is how the Israeli leadership is trying to frame what is

certainly a very brazen action, and one which will have far reaching implications for the region, for the war and for the hostages.

NEWTON: Indeed. Jeremy Diamond, grateful to you as you continue your reporting there out of Jerusalem. So, our coverage of Israel's Doha strike

continues after the break, who Israel says it is targeting. What happens next? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

NEWTON: And so, we want to bring you right up to date on the breaking news. We've been following Israel's attack on Hamas in Doha, Qatar. Israel says

it targeted Hamas leadership in Qatar's capital. You see the social media video there, of course, people running from the explosions.

A senior Israeli official tells CNN one of the targets was the Hamas Chief Negotiator who met with Qatar's Prime Minister in Doha on Monday. In a

statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu's Office, Israel says it takes sole responsibility for the attack, saying Israel initiated it, Israel conducted

it, and Israel takes full responsibility.

I want to bring in our Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward. Good to have you on this story Clarissa. I mean, look, they are essentially

there, absolving any involvement from the United States. But I do want to turn to really what is extraordinary video, right? You're in the middle of

Doha, Israel calling this a precision strike.

But it is quite an audacious move, is it not? And as we wait to see the fallout, to see exactly what happened if anyone was killed, and obviously

if any Qataris were hurt here as well?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think audacious is very much the word staggering, also, as the U.N. Secretary General has

pointed out, a flagrant disregard or lack of regard for the International Territorial Sovereignty of Qatar.

And frankly, pretty jaw dropping when you consider what a close ally Qatar is of the United States and has been for decades now. Qatar is home to the

largest U.S. base in the entire region. They just had a lavish welcome from President Trump himself. There has been the whole brouhaha over the issue

of Qatar donating a plane to President Trump.

And so, I don't think anyone would have expected to see Israel take the step of launching a strike inside Qatar, which has essentially, over a

period of many years, cultivated this space as a kind of neutral place where different parties and factions, whether they're nation states,

whether they're non state actors, whether they're militant or terrorist groups, can come together and engage in some kind of a safe or protected

dialog.

That obviously now really out the window. And despite Paula, what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to convey with that statement, that

this was our decision alone. We did it alone, we take full responsibility. The IDF has also said that the U.S. was aware, and of course, they would

have to be aware, given the size of Al Udeid Air Base.

And that is going to take a significant toll potentially on the relationship between the United States and Qatar. The Qataris will

obviously be wanting to get to the bottom of how much time or how much advance time the U.S. had? Or whether they tacitly condoned this? What this

means for that relationship going forward?

We are expecting to hear a press conference coming out of Qatar from its leadership. Obviously, they have unequivocally denounced this attack. But

really it calls into question a hugely important strategic relationship for the United States and the Middle East, and perhaps more pressingly, the

future of those negotiations, which, according to multiple sources, were actually reaching something of an inflection point.

And we heard before from Qatar last July when Ismail Haniyeh, the Former Hamas Political Leader, was assassinated by Israel in Tehran and Qatar came

out then the prime minister, and took to X and said, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?

Well, given that in today's case, it has happened on the actual territory where those negotiations are taking place, it seems to leave even less

space for those types of conversations towards bringing an end to the horrific war in Gaza to an end to continue, Paula.

NEWTON: Yeah, Clarissa, such good points, all of them in terms of how there's any kind of a dialog or open road to any kind of a dialog going

forward. Clarissa Ward, grateful to you. We do want to bring in our CNN Global Affairs Commentator Sabrina Singh.

[11:45:00]

So, I mean, Sabrina, Clarissa, just pointed out just what an extraordinary strike this has been. So now you are at the White House. You are at the

Pentagon. We are expecting White House briefing in a little over an hour from now. What do you say? Because we've had, you know, both General Wesley

Clark and Clarissa Ward point out it is impossible that the United States military did not have a heads up that this was going to happen.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, look, this is an unprecedented strike that Israel certainly launched today. I was there at

the Pentagon when Israel conducted that strike against Haniyeh, and then again with Nasrallah.

And you know, there were frustrations with even within the Biden Administration, because even though we would sometimes get a heads up, it

was sometimes minutes, minutes before the strike was conducted. And even then, you know, when we would discuss some of their, you know, behavior

within the Gaza Strip or strikes that they wanted to take.

We would have long conversations with the Israelis on how to best off-ramp, because we ultimately wanted to see a diplomatic end to the war that was

happening in Gaza. But sometimes, and more often than not, we did not get a significant heads up that people would think.

With this, though, and I think with President Trump's warning that came over the weekend that said, you know, Hamas needs to accept the deal. It

does seem like this administration knew some of the actions that Israel was going to take. But ultimately, I think you know the administration would

have to speak to this, and I know that President Trump is in front of cameras later today, so hopefully we do get some more answers.

NEWTON: Yeah, Sabrina just gave us extraordinary context there on what it's like to be on the receiving end of something like that when you have an

emboldened Israeli Leader. I argue the Netanyahu government is even more emboldened now than they were when you were at the Pentagon in the Biden

Administration.

So where do you go from here, if you are the United States? I mean, at this point, most, even if the United States can deny that they knew about this

way ahead of time, they will say what that they couldn't do anything about it. Do you believe that if they wanted to stop Israel, that they could,

given your experience in the Biden Administration?

SINGH: You know, it's been very -- it's very difficult, and I think some of our experience within the administration dealing with the Netanyahu

government is that they were very set in their ways. But one of the ways that we were able to change behavior is a full court press pressure from

all aspects of government, State Department, Department of Defense, USAID and the White House, the National Security Council, would talk to their

Israeli counterparts about making sure that aid could get in.

So, we were able to, you know, get some more trucks into Gaza as that humanitarian situation continued to devolve. Now it's even worse. So, can

the administration influence Israeli behavior? Ultimately, yes. I mean, is -- the United States is continuing to be a long supporter of supplying arms

to Israel.

So, you know, during my time at the Biden Administration, we did stop a shipment of very powerful munitions from going to Israel. This

administration does have the choice to do that. That would change behavior in Israel. But I frankly, don't know that this administration is going to

do that, or really wants to change the behavior of how the Netanyahu government is conducting itself within Gaza?

I mean, we've seen, you know, Donald Trump say time and time again that he wants to make this a big real estate investment. So, you know that remains

to be seen.

NEWTON: Yeah. And this, of course, leads to an absolutely torture situation for the people in Gaza right now, and obviously for the families of the

hostages. I want you to listen to the brother of one hostage being held believed to be alive, and what he said just in the last hour to our Wolf

Blitzer, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IIAY DAVID, BROTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE EVYATAR DAVID: We understand that this administration is very determined to bring back the hostages, and we

trust the president to do it as well and to keep his promise. He promised us.

As he rescued, as he managed to save the lives of dozens of hostages in January, February, we believe he can do it again. He promised to do it

again. We're just so confused, so confused, I don't know if it's good or bad, to be honest, I have no idea. I hope it will bring something good.

But again, those were the people that, as I understand, were the people that Qatar used in the negotiations. So right now, I don't know who Israel

is going to negotiate with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And Sabrina, you hear there that brother Mr. David, just hoping against hope that this somehow is a pivot point in the negotiations. You

know, you point out that the Biden Administration would then turn to Israel try and get more aid in that does not seem to be the direction that Israel

is going.

[11:50:00]

And now continuing to say at this time, they are continuing their assault on Gaza City, and at this hour, are telling hundreds of thousands of people

to evacuate from there.

SINGH: Yeah. You know, my heart -- my heart truly breaks for the hostages because the strike that Israel conducted today. And you know, killing one

of the lead negotiators that was taking part of these conversations in Qatar, in the exact place where these negotiations were being housed, by

both sides.

On top of that Israel conducting large scale operations in Gaza City, that all of these actions are going to put the hostages lives at further risk.

And you're going to displace up to probably 1 million people that live within Gaza City, and you're forcing them to move into locations that

they're not going to be safe.

There's no humanitarian corridor for them. There's only four distribution sites for humanitarian aid in the south. So, you're creating an untenable

humanitarian situation on the ground, and furthermore, putting these hostages lives at risk. So, it's a hard situation to try and understand.

Ultimately, I don't think this strike today is going to lead to further negotiations. I think Qatar is going to walk away from this and say, you

know, this is now on you to kind of figure this out, because we're not going to have our own country struck, you know, by these, by these deadly

strikes.

NEWTON: Yeah, and that would seem the least of the reaction from Qatar, at least in this point in time. Sabrina Singh, really grateful for your

context there, given that you were at the negotiation table less than a year ago, appreciate it. Just ahead for us more on that Israeli attack and

Qatar stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: All right. I want to bring you right up to date on our breaking news. Israel has carried out an attack on the Qatari Capital Doha it says

targeting Hamas leadership. You can see just absolutely terrifying moments in an otherwise peaceful Doha there U.S. Officials say the Trump

Administration was informed of the attack ahead of time.

But Israel's Prime Minister says it was, quote, wholly independent, wholly independent Israeli operation. Qatar is in fact, home to the largest

American military base in the region. Just yesterday, the Qatari Prime Minister met Hamas' Chief Negotiator to discuss new Gaza ceasefire

proposals.

[11:55:00]

The Qatari Foreign Minister says Israel's attack on residential buildings is a criminal assault. I do also want to point out that our CNN Producer

Andrew Potter is on the ground. He is reporting that the center of the building hit in Israel's attack on Doha appears to have collapsed. That is

from him, from what he sees on the ground.

He does point out that local officials are keeping anyone from getting too close to the scene. There has been condemnation, of course, as we just

said, from Qatar, but also from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan, from the U.N. Secretary General, all saying that it is an attack on Qatar's sovereignty.

We do await a press conference in the next few moments from the Government of Qatar as well a White House briefing within the next hour. We will have

much more for you. Stay with CNN. My colleague, Christina Macfarlane, continues with the breaking news right after a quick break, and I will be

back in about an hour with Amanpour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)