A new, uncompromising doctrine appears to be guiding Israel’s actions in Gaza, shifting from a strategy that included dialogue to one focused solely on destruction. This pivot was made brutally clear by the strike in Doha targeting Hamas’s own peace negotiators. The attack has effectively dismantled the last remaining framework for a negotiated settlement, committing all parties to a future of unending war.
The Doha talks, though fragile, were a critical lifeline supported by the U.S. They represented a pragmatic acknowledgment that military force alone might not bring a stable end to the conflict. The strike is a definitive repudiation of that pragmatism, an assertion that a political solution is no longer on the table and that only a military victory will suffice.
For Hamas, this new reality is an existential threat. The message is not just that the terms are non-negotiable, but that their very existence is. The choice is between being dismantled through surrender or through annihilation. This may be calculated to induce collapse, but it could equally inspire a fight to the death, dragging the region into a deeper quagmire.
The diplomatic landscape is now a barren desert. Qatar’s role as mediator has been rendered impotent, and no alternative channels for dialogue exist. By purposefully targeting the agents of peace, the strike has created a self-fulfilling prophecy of endless war. The path of negotiation has been intentionally destroyed, leaving only the path of confrontation.