Israel Hamas war in Gaza: DUP MP Sammy Wilson says Israeli strikes on Qatar will drive Hamas 'to the peace table'

Qatari security forces and emergency fire personnel deployed around the site of an Israeli attack on Hamas’s political leaders who had gathered in the capital to consider a US proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday’s strike on a building in Doha killed at least six people in a neighbourhood that is home to foreign embassies and schools.

The strike on the territory of a US ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Middle East and beyond.

It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

An Israeli official said at least 10 bombs were used in the raid.

But Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, told the Commons that the missile strike will drive Hamas to peace talks.

“Let’s look at the facts behind Israel’s strike,” he said on Wednesday.

“First of all, we have a bunch of terrorists who’ve been sitting in the safety of Qatar for years, organising and financing acts of terror, including the mass murder of civilians in Israel this week, and boasting about their involvement in it.

“Is it not an advance that those people are eliminated, and it is made clear to them that they will face the consequences of the terror which they organise?

“And by showing them that they will be pursued, punished and will not win, is it not more likely it will drive them to the peace table rather than continue their acts of terror?”

Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer replied that the strikes “violate Qatar’s sovereignty” with Qatari officials killed in the strike.

He said: “For that reason alone, it is worth condemning.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he had made the decision on Monday to carry out the strike.

An Israeli spokesman did not know how long the mission had been planned, but said the timing was connected to “operational opportunity” — with Israel knowing that many Hamas officials would be gathered in an area relatively easy to hit without threatening Qatari civilians.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, said: “Such hostile behaviour reflects only the barbarism of Netanyahu,”.

The minister also consoled the family of a Qatari security official killed in Israel’s strike.

The buildings that had housed the Hamas leadership in Doha could be seen still standing, but in one room walls had collapsed and grey rubble could be seen inside.

Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya — Hamas’s leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — as well as three bodyguards and the head of Mr al-Hayya’s office.

Qatar maintains a major arsenal of air defence systems, however, it did not immediately appear that they engaged during the attack, which occurred just before 4pm on Tuesday.

It is suggested that Israeli fighter jets could have launched so-called “stand-off” missiles at a distance to strike the site without actually entering Qatari airspace.