On Capitol Hill, critics of Qatar celebrated the rumored expulsion of Hamas leadership, whom Qatar has sheltered for years, from the Gulf state. But legislators also expressed frustration that the move had taken so long, and some argued that kicking out Hamas leaders isn’t enough — and that those officials should instead be detained and extradited.

The potential expulsion of Hamas’ top brass from the country comes after a year of mounting pressure from Capitol Hill. Administration officials had largely resisted the pressure, saying that Qatar served as a critical mediator for hostage talks, but in recent weeks allegedly told Qatar it needed to push out the Hamas officials.

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), among the most vocal critics of Qatar in the Senate, said in a statement that the news was “welcome, but long overdue.”

“For months, I led a bipartisan group of Senators to state unequivocally that Qatar should expel Hamas leaders from Doha after refusing reasonable negotiations to release hostages,” Budd said. “More than 400 days since October 7th, the Qatari government has finally changed course and done so. I look forward to working with the incoming Trump administration to institute a new policy that projects strength and exerts maximum pressure on Hamas, and any nation or organization that supports them, until they release each and every hostage, including North Carolinian Keith Siegel.”

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), who, like Budd, sponsored legislation seeking to reassess the U.S. military relationship with Qatar if it did not expel Hamas leaders, called the move “a major victory for U.S. diplomacy and for Israel.” She said in a statement that the Hamas leaders should be permanently barred from Qatar.

“Qatar has, so far, failed to force Hamas to come to the table and make a deal to release the Israeli and American hostages. It is crystal clear that Hamas is not a good-faith negotiator and must never receive shelter from partners of the United States,” Wagner said.

She said she had discussed the issue personally with Qatari leaders during a past visit and said that she “made clear their harboring of Hamas was unconscionable.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) expressed frustration on social media that the push hadn’t come sooner.

“After the election, the United States magically discovers that it has enough leverage to pressure Qatar to stop harboring Hamas,” Torres said. “Utterly inexplicable.”

It remains to be seen what will happen now to the Hamas leaders, particularly whether they’ll be allowed to flee Qatar and to where, amid pressure from some to detain and extradite the Hamas leaders rather than allowing them to flee.

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jim Risch (R-ID), respectively the top Republicans on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, had led several Senate GOP colleagues on a Nov. 4 letter calling on the U.S. to demand that Qatar freeze Hamas leaders’ assets and otherwise restrict their activities, as well as indict and seek to extradite Hamas officials in Qatar.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said on X that Hamas leaders shouldn’t be allowed to leave Qatar as free men.

“That would be a U.S.-facilitated evacuation for Hamas leaders, not accountability,” Goldberg said. “Seize all the assets (finally!). Detain all terrorists. There are Americans held hostage. Headquarters relocation is not the goal.”

He said that the U.S. is “knowingly allow[ing] Qatar to evacuate more wanted terrorists” and that the move “should be met with outrage.”

Matthew Levitt, the Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted that Qatari leaders have denied that they’re expelling Hamas.

But Levitt told Jewish Insider that if the officials are kicked out, they will likely flee to Iran and Turkey, and eventually Lebanon once the war there ends.