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'Survived this? We'll get you next time': Israel's message for Hamas after Qatar strike
If we didn't get them this time, we'll get them the next time, Israel's ambassador to the US said while speaking on the strike in Qatar, targeting Hamas.
Survived this strike? We will kill you next time, an Israeli official said on Tuesday in a warning to Palestinian militant outfit Hamas, which was the target of an assassination attempt by Israel through an air strike in Qatari capital Doha.
Israel carried out an attempt to kill political leaders of Hamas, Palestinian outfit that is fighting the Israel forces in Gaza. The air strike in Qatar's Doha was described by the US as a unilateral attack that does not advance American and Israeli interests.
"Right now, we may be subject to a little bit of criticism. They'll get over it. And Israel is being changed for the better," Israeli ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told Fox News' "Special Report" programme late on Tuesday.
"If we didn't get them this time, we'll get them the next time," Leiter added.
The Israeli operation came amid deadlocked ceasefire talks, which Qatar has been mediating to have fighting in Gaza stopped.
Hamas said five of its members had been killed in the attack, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya.
Hamas top leadership survived the attack, group's political bureau member Suhail al-Hindi told Al Jazeera TV.
Israel, however, has not come up with a statement on the results of the attack, with a senior official, cited in a Reuters report, saying on Wednesday that the fact it has been so many hours without a clear conclusion was troubling, the official said.
Qatar, which said one of its security forces was killed in the attack, said Israel was treacherous and engaged in "state terrorism."
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said shortly after the air strike it was a “wholly independent Israeli operation” against top “Terreorist chieftains of Hamas”.
Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility, the PMO said.
