Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Wednesday that Doha found recent ceasefire violations in Gaza “disappointing and frustrating” but immediately mobilized forces in full coordination with the US to contain the situation, Anadolu reported.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Al-Thani said Qatar had witnessed numerous ceasefire violations throughout the process, many of which went unreported because they were minor.
“But yesterday’s event was frankly something that was very disappointing and frustrating for us who saw it happen, and we were trying to contain it, and we immediately mobilized after this, and in full coordination with the United States of America, and we saw that the United States was also committed to the agreement,” he said.
He said Tuesday’s incident was a “violation by the Palestinian side,” although Hamas denied involvement in the attack that killed an Israeli soldier in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“We don’t know yet. We haven’t had any confirmation whether this is true or not,” he said, stressing that Qatar remains focused on securing a ceasefire.
“I believe what happened yesterday was a violation,” Al-Thani said, adding that “the main parties recognize that the ceasefire should be maintained and that they should abide by the agreement.”
Qatar, along with Turkey, Egypt and the United States, mediated the ceasefire agreement reached on October 10. The four countries signed a document formalizing the agreement during an international summit organized by Egypt in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
His remarks came after the Israeli army killed more than 100 Palestinians, including 46 children, in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday night, in violation of a ceasefire agreement that has been in place since Oct. 10, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The ministry added that 253 people, including 78 children and 84 women, were injured in renewed Israeli attacks.
Ministry data shows that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, at least 211 people have been killed and 597 injured in Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Relentless bombing made the enclave almost uninhabitable and led to famine and the spread of disease.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
