Katz: ‘Summit of Fire’ shows Hamas has nowhere to hide

September 10, 2025

Katz warned that if Hamas “murderers and rapists” refuse Jerusalem’s offer to end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining 48 hostages and full disarmament, its leaders will be eliminated and the Gaza Strip “will be ruined.”

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, Amelie Botbol, JNS

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Wednesday to continue targeting Hamas leaders worldwide, stressing that no terrorist involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre will evade justice.

“Israel’s security policy is clear,” Katz stated, adding that the “long arm” of the Israel Defense Forces would continue to target its enemies. “There is no place they can hide,” Katz declared.

The defense minister’s remarks came a day after the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) carried out a targeted airstrike against top members of Hamas’s leadership in Doha, Qatar.

The results of what the IDF dubbed “Operation Summit of Fire” were not immediately clear. Hamas leaders known to be based in Doha include Khaled Mashaal, Zaher Jabarin, Mohammad Ismail Darwish, Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hussam Badran and Tahar Anunu.

According to Katz, “everyone who was involved in the Oct. 7 massacre will be brought to justice in full. Everyone who carries out terror against Israel will be harmed.”

Otzma Yehudit Party Knesset lawmaker Tzvika Foghel told JNS on Wednesday, “The world cannot afford the existence of Islamo-Nazi terrorist organizations, much less the State of Israel, which has already suffered in the past from their cruelty and racism.”

Foghel said Israel should press ahead with the war’s objectives “with all the means at its disposal,” outlining five priorities: toppling Hamas and replacing it with a non-terrorist authority, securing the return of all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, advancing Jewish settlement therein and eliminating Hamas’s presence in Judea and Samaria.

“Only in this way will we succeed in ensuring the security of the residents of the State of Israel in the Land of Israel,” he said.

Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv told JNS, “I am proud of the leadership of the State of Israel, the prime minister who, with great courage, along with the minister of defense, carried out one of the most heroic plans to eliminate Hamas in Qatar.”

The strike “will lead to progress in the deal to free our hostages and demonstrate the extraordinary and immense power of the State of Israel against enemies everywhere,” she added.

Likud Knesset member Avichai Boaron told JNS that while “we don’t know yet what the implications of this operation are, we know that the leadership of Hamas was hurt.

“We swore after Oct. 7 that we would destroy Hamas, including the leadership of this terror organization,” added Boaron.

“Our purpose is to bring about an end to the war, and this could be one of the steps that leads to it on Israel’s terms. When terrorists in Gaza understand that the leadership outside cannot help them anymore, they will realize they are losing, that nothing will stop us from winning and destroying them, and they will release the hostages,” he said.

Speaking at an event hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that with the strike he had kept a vow made in the wake of Oct. 7.

“At the beginning of the war, I promised that Israel would reach those who perpetrated this horror. And today, Israel and I have kept that promise,” the prime minister said of the operation in Qatar.

“Now, much of the world, including much of the democratic world, or governments at least, have shamefully, shamefully forgotten October 7th. But I don’t forget, and Israel will never forget. Never,” he added.