Haaretz: Türkiye could be the next target after Qatar
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper warned that Israel may be preparing to open a new, more dangerous front against Türkiye following its recent aggression against Doha, considering such a move to be strategically disastrous.
In a report titled “Türkiye Could Be Israel’s Next Target After Qatar… The Consequences Could Be Catastrophic,” Haaretz newspaper linked the attack on Qatar to the Shin Bet’s announcement that it had foiled an assassination attempt targeting extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which it said was planned by a Hamas cell operating from Turkish territory.
Although Ankara denied any involvement, the report warned that Israel might consider targeting Hamas offices in Istanbul, which it considers a coordination and funding center politically protected by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Haaretz emphasized that any confrontation with Türkiye would be radically different from that with Qatar.
Ankara possesses NATO’s second-largest army and has extensive influence in Syria, Libya, and the Eastern Mediterranean.
In addition to its membership in the Atlantic Alliance, any attack on it would escalate from a limited conflict to a full-blown regional confrontation.
Haaretz also noted that such a confrontation could lead to Israel losing Western support and opening complex fronts that would threaten regional stability, especially after Erdogan condemned the attack on Qatar and considered it a violation of international law.
Haaretz newspaper quoted its sources as saying that Israel had previously canceled a similar operation against Hamas in Türkiye due to the sensitivity of Ankara’s NATO membership, preferring to target Qatar instead. However, internal pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government may push him into a new adventure.
Relations between the two sides have been escalating since October 2023, reaching a peak in August 2025, when Ankara closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft and severed economic ties in response to statements by its Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, in which he described the events in Gaza as genocide.
