In the war against Iran and its allies that it has been waging since October 7, 2023, Israel has established a pattern of wiping out entire slates of enemy leaders.

Last September, Israel shocked Hezbollah and forced it into a humiliating ceasefire by killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah, half its leadership council, and its top military command.

In its opening strikes against Iran in June, Israel swiftly dispatched the Islamic Republic’s multiple top generals and nuclear scientists, among them Revolutionary Guards chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, Armed Forces chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, and missile chief Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Two weeks ago, Israeli planes struck a meeting of the Houthi cabinet in Yemen, killing the Houthi prime minister and other senior ministers.

And in the Gaza Strip, all of Hamas’s senior military and civil leaders have been killed over the course of a 23-month campaign.

Every one of these campaigns is an achievement that few countries could dream of pulling off. Doing it repeatedly, hundreds of miles from home territory, is unheard of.

There was one group who seemed immune from Israel’s long arm — the billionaire Hamas political leaders in Doha, the very same gray-bearded men who famously prostrated themselves in a prayer of thanks while Hamas terrorists were still slaughtering Israeli civilians in their homes on October 7, 2023.

Israel struck Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran, but his colleagues had many reasons to assume that they were untouchable while on Qatari soil. Qatar has used its oil and natural gas wealth to spread its soft power throughout the West. The emirate hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, and, most importantly, it has served as the key Arab mediator in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on hostage release deals.

With Hamas refusing to release the hostages on Israel’s terms — and after a deadly terror shooting in Jerusalem on Monday and a deadly attack on an Israeli tank in Gaza the same day — Israel’s patience ran out. On Tuesday, apparently without informing the Trump administration in advance, it targeted a gathering........

© The Times of Israel