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Israel’s Sept. 9 strike on Hamas’s leadership team in Doha, Qatar, apparently an attempt to kill chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya among others, underscores the degree to which its war aims have shifted. Israel has abandoned negotiation and embraced the uncompromising destruction of Hamas, regardless of the diplomatic or humanitarian costs.

The attack jeopardizes the prospects of a mediated settlement and the chances of recovering hostages alive. It undermines relations with Qatar and complicates U.S. policy in a region where Washington’s military presence and diplomatic leverage are already under strain. In this sense, the strike represents less a tactical blow against Hamas than a strategic declaration that Israel will continue to expand the battlefield—even if doing so forecloses any hope of a cease-fire and binds its closest partners to the consequences.

Israel’s Sept. 9 strike on Hamas’s leadership team in Doha, Qatar, apparently an attempt to kill chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya among others, underscores the degree to which its war aims have shifted. Israel has abandoned negotiation and embraced the uncompromising destruction of Hamas, regardless of the diplomatic or humanitarian costs.

The attack jeopardizes the prospects of a mediated settlement and the chances of recovering hostages alive. It undermines relations with Qatar and complicates U.S. policy in a region where Washington’s military presence and diplomatic leverage are already under strain. In this sense, the strike represents less a tactical blow against Hamas than a strategic declaration that Israel will continue to expand the battlefield—even if doing so forecloses any hope of a cease-fire and binds its closest partners to the consequences.

Israel’s previous assassination attempts on Hamas figures residing in relatively friendly Arab states have backfired, which in the past had made Israeli planners cautious about strikes like the one conducted on Tuesday. In 1997, Israel botched the assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Amman, Jordan, and two Mossad operatives were captured in the process. The Jordanian government—one of only two Arab states that had signed peace deals with Israel at the time and a close intelligence partner—threatened to cut cooperation with Israel. To placate Jordan, a humiliated Israel released several leading Hamas prisoners, including its head, Ahmed Yassin. In 2010, Israel killed Hamas........

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