A recent Israeli airstrike in Doha that targeted a Hamas delegation hosted by Qatar reportedly failed to kill its intended targets and has disrupted ongoing ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations, columnist Mark Almond wrote in the Daily Mail.
Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute in Oxford, argued the strike — which he says struck a residential building in Doha — has effectively ruined talks that were being mediated by Qatar and could sharply damage Israel's relations with Gulf Arab states. The Israel Defense Forces has separately acknowledged that four soldiers were killed by Hamas in recent fighting, a point Almond cited as part of a wider political context driving Israeli action.
Almond contrasted the reported Qatar strike with prior Israeli operations he described as successful, citing an attack in September 2024 that used exploding pagers against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and a June operation that targeted Iranian military and nuclear personnel. He wrote that those operations had been carried out with "astounding ingenuity and success," while the recent strike in Qatar marked a rare failure to achieve its apparent aim.
In his column, Almond contended that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have calculated that a bold strike, even if it failed to eliminate Hamas leaders, would placate hardline coalition partners at home by demonstrating resolve. Israel has faced steady casualties and difficult ground operations in Gaza, and Almond argued that domestic political pressure for decisive action was a factor in the decision to target figures based outside Gaza.
The columnist warned of broader diplomatic consequences, saying Israel's outreach to Gulf states — including relationships fostered under the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and others — has been severely strained by the strike. Almond wrote that the attack has united Gulf partners in condemnation and risks reversing years of rapprochement that had economic and strategic implications for Israel.
Almond also cited what he described as recent Pentagon disclosures that a portion of U.S. anti-aircraft missile stocks had been supplied to Israel to help counter drones and missiles launched in retaliation by Iran. He questioned how long such resupply could be sustained if regional tensions continued to escalate.
The column argued the strike in Qatar could also imperil any remaining prospects for freeing hostages held in Gaza by undermining the mediation role Qatar had been playing. Almond wrote that the bombing "has probably killed any chance" of saving hostages, a judgment he presented as analysis rather than a new official assessment.
Analysts and officials outside Almond's column have emphasized the risks of diplomatic fallout after strikes that cross the borders of other states. Gulf capitals have previously hosted diplomatic efforts around Gaza and have been key interlocutors in ceasefire and hostage negotiations. Any attack on their territory is likely to prompt formal protest and could complicate regional security cooperation.
Almond suggested the strike may have longer-term geopolitical consequences by encouraging unexpected alignments among regional actors. He wrote that Iran could benefit politically from Gulf anger at Israel, arguing that the fallout might draw Sunni Arab states and Shiite Iran into closer opposition to Israel.
Responses from Qatari officials and Gulf governments to the reported strike were not detailed in Almond's column, and Israeli officials have not publicly confirmed the specific targets or outcomes of the Doha strike in the material cited by the columnist. The Israel Defense Forces routinely provides briefings on military operations; in this instance the IDF's statement referenced the recent loss of soldiers to Hamas but did not provide public confirmation of the Qatar strike's results in the excerpts Almond used.
The columnist concluded by warning that the strike risks isolating Israel in its own region, reviving a diplomatic environment akin to the decades before the peace process with Egypt, and leaving policymakers to confront a more dangerous and fractured Middle East. Almond framed the development as a potentially consequential turning point for both regional diplomacy and Israel's domestic politics.
The Daily Mail published Almond's commentary on the day after the reported strike. Independent confirmation of the strike's precise effects on Hamas leadership, the state of the Doha-hosted negotiations and the full diplomatic response from Gulf partners was not provided in Almond's column.