The Israeli airstrike on the Qatari capital Doha is a step change in the way they tackle their enemies, but only the latest in a series of them.

In the past, Israel used stealthier means to dispatch its foes. Plausible deniability was preferable.

October 7 changed everything, the Israelis say.

So when they came for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in 2024 in the Iranian capital of Tehran, they didn’t bother with anything as subtle as poison or strangulation – they blew him up with an airstrike instead.

Now it’s launched another one, this time not on a city in a country that’s hostile to Israel, but one it has relations with, to the horror of the region and massive diplomatic fallout.

You might assume the targets were high value, a clear and present threat to Israel, to justify all that. Not exactly.

There are plenty of reasons for Israelis to hate the old men of Hamas, whom they appear to have targeted. In the past, some of them were instrumental in organising terrorist attacks that killed many innocent women and children.

Follow the latest: Hamas leadership ‘survives Israeli strikes on Doha’

They will have cheered on the 7 October atrocities, but so far as we know, they were not its primary masterminds.

Hamas’ Doha office

In 2011, the US government persuaded the Qataris to let Hamas open a political office in Doha, and the Israelis approved of the idea.

Everyone wanted an address to negotiate with and funnel millions of dollars through to Gaza.

In the words of one Israeli official: “We believe that better conditions in Gaza would lessen the incentive of Hamas and the population to go again to a war. So in a way, it is helping the deterrence.”

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Critics of Benjamin Netanyahu said he was deliberately strengthening one wing of Palestinian politics as part of a cynical policy of divide and rule.

For whatever reason, Israel acquiesced fully in the Hamas political office being set up in Doha. It was staffed with some of the veterans of its cause who seem to have been on the target list in this strike.

When I interviewed Khaled Meshaal in Doha in October 2023, he was determined and dogmatic, but seemed at one stage removed.

He was no longer the ideological godfather of the movement, he clearly had been when I first met him in Damascus in 2017.

The hard men of Gaza – Yahya Sinwar, Abu Obeida, Muhammad Deif – were in control now, much more than those languishing in exile.

Hard to see how strikes help hostages in Gaza

Mr Netanyahu will have had his reasons for today’s strikes.

He has almost certainly been waiting for another chance to kill Meshaal after his first attempt failed so spectacularly.

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In 1997, he sent Mossad agents to pour a lethal poison into his ear in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

They botched the job, and King Hussein told then-US president Bill Clinton to order the Israeli leader to hand over an antidote that saved him.

Initial reports suggest the wily Meshaal escaped the latest attempt on his life, too.

But the men killed and targeted today were, for all their faults, the people Israel was indirectly talking to try to negotiate the return of their hostages.

It is hard to see how this helps their plight now.

As we flew into Kathmandu, you could already see from the sky, the fury playing out on the streets below.

Huge plumes of smoke rose over the Nepalese capital. It was the second day of intense protests, and it soon felt like something seismic.

On the ground, it was kinetic and chaotic. We landed just before the army closed the airport. The protesters were minutes away.

On the road, a constant stream of young people sped by on motorbikes, honking their horns as they raced towards parliament.

Some were carrying batons, others guns, some simply using their voices, declaring a “revolution”.

We watched as they set fire to a police station. Many, already angry, were incensed by the deaths of 19 people on Monday – accusing the police of using live ammunition to silence dissent.

The government has so far only acknowledged using rubber bullets and tear gas.

The leadership did lift the restrictions on social media – allowing people to use apps like X, YouTube and Instagram once again.

And soon after, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the thousands defying the curfew.

Nearly everyone we spoke to shared the same message – this was not about any platform – it was about something far deeper and far more entrenched.

“This protest is not against the social media ban,” one man said as he raced through on a bike.

“This is against the big corruption that these ministers have done for the past few decades.

“We were suppressed. Now we have a voice.”

Throughout the day, you could feel people getting more emboldened. It was less than 24 hours before that we’d seen police firing at protesters – some victims died in their school uniforms.

But on Tuesday, we didn’t see a single officer. The only army we clocked was at the airport. And their absence was no more glaring than at the very centre of politics.

Parliament House, home to lawmakers, was engulfed in flames as we approached. Protesters were rejoicing outside – thousands cheering as the building burned.

It was surreal. The building looked abandoned – overrun by those who want radical change.

“They have given an open challenge to Gen Z,” one man told me, punching his wooden stick into the air as he spoke. “You should not challenge the youth or challenge Gen Z.”

I asked a young woman, Sandeep Bista, 26, if she was worried about more violence, given that 19 people had already died.

“I think to gain something you have to lose something,” she said. “So they’re patriots for us. But today I’m happy. Revolution is coming.”

As the light faded, the mood shifted, people edging closer until they finally stormed inside – large groups clutching phones – seemingly undeterred by the sound of small explosions.

There was smashed glass everywhere, dust obscuring the winding stairs. People climbed up them to try and grab or destroy what little was left – relics to remember the day by.

Some came back with gleeful faces, holding bits of gold furniture and decoration – a symbol of the elite they’ve come to loathe.

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Elsewhere in the city, politicians were attacked, their homes targeted. The young people here feel on the cusp of victory and the right side of history.

When you ask them what justice looks like, they say they want equality – a leadership that addresses their needs.

Quite what that equality looks like seems harder for them to specify. But a wholesale change in leadership appears to be a crucial demand.

The big question is, what next?

We don’t yet know who might take over from the prime minister. The police clearly chose to stay away on Tuesday – no doubt fearful of the reception they’d receive.

But by evening, the Nepali army vowed to “take control of the situation”. From what we saw, calm currently feels pretty elusive.

Hundreds of inmates have escaped prisons, politicians’ home addresses are being shared online, and many young people who feel they have waited far too long already want dramatic change and quickly.

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It is a powder keg moment that could change the course of the country for many years to come.

Like the recent demonstration in Indonesia and the uprising in Bangladesh just a year ago, this moment in Nepal has shown the fierce political power of young people.

More than 20 civilians have been killed in a Russian airstrike on a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Another 21 people were wounded, a regional official said.

Following the attack, the Ukrainian president called for Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.

The bomb hit the village of Yarova as people lined up outside to receive their pensions, Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram, adding that the attack was “directly on people. Ordinary civilians”.

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Yarova is less than 10km from the front line, and was occupied by Russia in 2022 before being liberated by Ukraine’s armed forces in a counteroffensive later the same year.

Mr Zelenskyy posted video footage of bodies on the ground amid debris on Telegram.

“Frankly brutal,” he said, urging the international community to make Russia pay economically for its invasion through additional sanctions.

“The world must not remain silent,” Mr Zelenskyy added. “The world must not remain idle. A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20.”

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Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said the attack was “yet another confirmation of systemic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine”.

Russia is yet to comment.

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The latest barrage comes as NATO chief Mark Rutte is visiting the UK for talks on Ukraine on Tuesday – but diplomatic efforts to end the three-and-a-half-year war have stalled in recent months.

With US-led peace efforts seemingly making no headway, Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine. On Sunday, it hit Kyiv with the largest aerial barrage since the war began in February 2022.

US and European officials then met in the States on Monday evening to discuss options to exert economic pressure on Russia, including new sanctions and tariffs on Russian oil purchases, the Associated Press reported.