New details have emerged about how senior Hamas officials were evacuated following the Israeli strike in Doha, with a Qatari report claiming that a security team activated a prearranged escape plan, helped the Hamas leaders change their clothing, and transported them separately to different hiding places.

According to a report aired by the Qatari Al-Araby channel, the evacuation plan had been prepared in advance and was put into action immediately following the first explosion.

The report also revealed that when the initial strike took place at 3:46 p.m., the senior Hamas officials were not actually inside the building that was targeted. Instead, they were reportedly in another structure located only several meters away.

The Qatari official responsible for protecting the Hamas leadership told the channel that emergency procedures had already been established before the attack, including a plan for moving the delegation to a secure location. Once the first strike occurred, the security team rushed into action and began carrying out those procedures.

According to the report, security personnel helped the Hamas officials change their clothes in an effort to conceal their identities and movements as they made their way toward waiting vehicles.

The officials were then evacuated individually rather than as a group. Each was placed in a different vehicle, with the cars traveling separately toward different safe locations away from the site of the strike.

The Qatari security official said he did not know the emotional state of the Hamas officials during the evacuation, but said they cooperated with the security personnel. He noted that the Hamas leaders had previously been briefed about what they should do in the event of an emergency.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said that shortly before the strike, the organization’s leadership had received a five-point American proposal for a hostage agreement and ceasefire in Gaza. According to Naim, Qatari officials told Hamas that the proposal constituted an official message from President Donald Trump and that the terrorist organization had 48 hours to respond.

“We understood from the Qataris that this was an official message from the American president, and we treated it as an initiative for an agreement to end the war. We had 48 hours to respond to the proposal,” Naim said.

Naim said Hamas had already suspected that Israel might carry out a military operation targeting the terrorist group’s senior leadership.

“We had an assessment that Israel was not interested in reaching any agreement, and might take military action that would target Hamas leaders, first and foremost, of course, the head of the negotiating team, Khalil al-Hayya. However, it was not clear to us when or how.”

Security-camera footage broadcast as part of the report showed stairwells and nearby streets in the aftermath of the strike. A Qatari eyewitness interviewed by the channel said he heard at least ten explosions in the area.

Naim also described the moment when he realized that his life could be in danger. He said his first request was that members of the Hamas delegation recite the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, believing that those could be their final words.

The evacuation plan, however, was quickly activated.

“Immediately, the delegation began to be evacuated from the location one by one,” Naim recalled. “Each person went in a different direction.”

{Matzav.com}