Qatar is preparing to host a summit later today over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week. It is hoping that a group of Arab and Islamic nations will offer a way to restrain Israel.
The attack on Hamas leaders came as Qatar serves as a key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war, something Doha insisted it will continue to do even after the assault.
“It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told a meeting on Sunday.
However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve, given some nations already have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel and may be reluctant to sever ties.
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“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said.
“The key question is whether ... [the summit will] signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has held talks in Israel with Binyamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
[ Marco Rubio says Trump was unhappy with strike on Qatar ahead of Israel visitOpens in new window ]
The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking him underground to view archaeological excavations.
In Gaza City, Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called the last bastion of the militant Palestinian group.
Doctors and medical staff at the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza say they will be overwhelmed by a wave of new wounded and sick patients if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the north of the devastated territory in the face of an intensifying Israeli offensive.
Dr Mohammed Saqr, director of nursing at the Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, said there were not enough staff to cope with existing demand and that supplies of medicine and fuel were running low.
UN-backed experts have confirmed parts of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble, are now in a “man-made” famine.
Separately, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate in Geneva on Tuesday on Israel’s September 9th attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, the council said on Monday.
The airstrike, which Hamas says killed five of its members but not its leadership, has prompted US-allied Gulf Arab states to close ranks, adding to strains in ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which normalised relations in 2020.
[ Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ of hostage release with Doha strike, says QatarOpens in new window ]
The debate was requested by Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and by Kuwait on behalf of the Gulf Co-operation Council.
The request came as leaders of Arab and Islamic states were meeting in Doha on Monday, where they were expected to warn that Israel’s attack on Qatar and other “hostile acts” threaten coexistence and efforts to normalise ties in the region, according to a draft resolution of that gathering.
Tuesday’s urgent debate will be the 10th of its kind to be held at the UN Human Rights Council since its creation in 2006. – Guardian/Reuters
