Israeli warplanes struck locations in Doha on Tuesday, targeting senior Hamas leaders who U.S. and regional reports said had been meeting in the Qatari capital to discuss a U.S.-brokered ceasefire for Gaza. Early reports indicated at least two people were killed in the strikes, including the son of a Hamas negotiator.
The strikes came days after a photograph of a meeting room at the Ritz‑Carlton in Doha circulated online, prompting questions about where Hamas and Iranian officials had met. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a U.S.-based advocacy group, said the image showed senior Hamas figure Khalil al‑Hayya meeting with Iranian Foreign Ministry official Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Tehran-based delegation inside the hotel. UANI provided the image and its analysis to news outlets; the group’s CEO, Ambassador Mark Wallace, later sent a letter to Marriott International asking for a public explanation of how the meeting was permitted.
There is no publicly available evidence that the Israeli strikes targeted the Ritz‑Carlton specifically. Israeli officials said the operation focused on a residential headquarters that housed several members of Hamas’s political bureau, including part of the negotiating delegation involved in ceasefire talks. Multiple regional and international outlets reported that the strikes aimed at leadership and command nodes believed to be coordinating operations outside Gaza.
In his letter to Marriott, Wallace argued hosting meetings between Hamas and Iranian officials posed "exceptional reputational and legal risks" and urged the company to respond publicly and transparently within 48 hours. He said American companies listed on U.S. exchanges and subject to U.S. law should not provide facilities to what he described as "U.S. state‑sponsors of terrorism." Wallace also asserted that Iran has plotted attacks against U.S. citizens abroad and that Hamas continues to hold Israeli hostages; those assertions were included in the letter and relayed to news organizations.
Marriott International is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Daily Mail reported that it had reached out to the Ritz‑Carlton for comment; no immediate public response from Marriott or the Qatar-based hotel had been published by the time of those reports.
Sheikhdoms in the Gulf, including Qatar, have long hosted political and diplomatic contacts among regional actors, and Doha has in recent years played an intermediary role in negotiations involving Hamas, Israeli authorities and international mediators. Qatar has hosted Hamas political figures for years while also maintaining diplomatic and security ties with Western governments. The State Department has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984, and the United States lists Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The image of the meeting room added to scrutiny of ties between Hamas and Tehran. UANI asserts the photograph provides fresh evidence of a deepening relationship between the two groups, a claim that amplifies concerns among some Western officials about coordination between Hamas and Iran-led networks in the region. UANI’s identification of participants in the photograph and its interpretation of the meeting’s significance are the group’s publicly stated positions.
Qatari authorities did not immediately issue a statement tying the Ritz‑Carlton to the targeted residential complex, and Israeli officials have not said publicly that the hotel was a strike target. Independent verification of the identities of all individuals in the circulated photograph has not been made public.
The strikes in Doha mark a notable escalation in the conflict’s diplomatic and geographic scope and come amid intensified international efforts to secure a ceasefire and humanitarian access in Gaza. International reactions and follow-up reporting are expected as governments and advocacy groups seek clarification about the meeting, the photograph’s provenance, the nature of the gatherings in Doha and the civilian impact of the strikes.