Daines: Israel has a “singular goal” to eradicate Hamas after the strike in Qatar

First on Fox: Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., Travel to Israel following the Jewish state strike in Qatar, a strike which, according to him, was part of Israel’s “unique goal” to eradicate Hamas.

The Israel Defense Force (FDI) announced on Tuesday the strike, which aimed to target leadership of level higher in Hamas. However, the attack took place at more than 1,300 miles in Doha, Qatar.

The Qatari government was a key player at the negotiating table in the quest for a ceasefire and the return of hostages in the current conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization after the group’s brutal attack on October 7, 2023. The targets of Israel were the main negotiators of Hamas, the Hamas political bureau, which was thinking about the latest American ceasefire.

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Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., Planned to go to Israel before the Jewish state strikes Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)

Until now, Qatari officials have sentenced the strike and the White House has made a rare stage against Israel as a result.

Daines, who is a member of the senatorial committee of foreign relations, compared Hamas to “cancer” that Israel needed to eradicate. He put the situation of the Jewish state in perspective, if the United States was in the position of Israel and “1 200 200 American innocent (were) slaughtered by terrorists at 40 miles from Washington, DC”, then the “United States would do everything in its power to eradicate the threat”.

“The Israelis, as we have seen, whether with Iran or Hezbollah, no matter where these leaders are,” he told Fox News Digital. “They will come after them, much as the United States did when we followed Usama bin Laden in Pakistan. We did not ask for permission from Pakistan.”

After the attack, President Donald Trump told journalists that he was “not delighted” with the situation.

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President Donald Trump speaks to journalists as he left the White House in Washington on September 7, 2025. (AP photo / Jose Luis Magana)

“I was very unhappy with that, very unhappy with all the aspects. And we were able to recover the hostages, but I was very unhappy with the way it happened,” said Trump.

The Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the attack and took a tour of Israel’s decision as a “criminal attack” which constituted “a blatant violation of all international laws and standards and a serious threat to the security and security of Qataris and residents of Qatar”.

The Daines plan to go to the Jewish state came before the strike and was initially intended to celebrate the excavation of the old steps and a path, known as Pilgrimage Road, which Jesus would have walked, leading from the Siloam swimming pool to the Temple Mount.

The legislator had previously went to Israel to commemorate the progress of the archaeological excavation in progress in 2023, a few months before the Hamas Blitz on Israel.

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The smoke is seen on the explosions in the capital of Doha Qatar on September 9, 2025. (Jacqueline Penny / AFPTV / AFP via Getty Images)

Now, his planned trip, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the United States ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee should attend, should take a different tenor.

Daines said he had just spoken with the Israeli ambassador to the United States on Monday and hoped that his schedule could queue for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also noted that he had not yet seen an assessment of the strike, which struck a residential complex in Doha.

When he was asked if he feared that the strike will derail the cease-fire talks, Daines noted that he had appreciated Qatar’s cooperation and stressed that the United States had its largest military base in the Middle East there. But, he added that “Hamas, clearly, is trying to escape the reach of the Israeli government”.

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“And as we say,” sometimes you can run, but you cannot hide yourself “and Israel must have made a decision, knowing that, as they did with Iran, where they removed military leadership, they took out their nuclear scientists, because they could not allow Iran to enter their bomb,” said Daines.

“Likewise, with Hamas, they should eliminate their command and control structure, leadership. And they have a singular mission, and Israel will do what to do to protect themselves,” he continued.

Fox News Digital contacted the State Department to comment but did not immediately hear.

Greg Norman of Fox News contributed to this report.