DOHA, Qatar: Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Monday accused Israel of exploiting the war in Gaza as a cover to expand settlements and alter the status quo, warning that negotiations were being used as a pretext for continued military operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Sheikh Tamim added that the current negotiations are merely a pretext for continued Israeli military operations in the besieged territory.
“If Israel aims to assassinate Hamas leaders, why is it negotiating with them?” the Qatari Amir said in his opening statement to Arab and Muslim leaders gathered for an emergency summit in Doha on Monday.
“Israel’s government thinks it can impose a ‘fait accompli’ on the Arabs,” the Qatari Amir added.
The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit has been convened in the wake of Israel’s airstrikes on Doha and the worsening human rights situation in Palestine.
“Whoever works diligently and systematically to assassinate the party with whom he is negotiating, intends to thwart the negotiations… Negotiations, for them, are merely part of the war,” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said.
He also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “dreams of turning the Arab region into an Israeli sphere of influence, and this is a dangerous illusion”.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike on a residential compound in Doha targeted Hamas members, as the group was reviewing a US proposal to end the war in Gaza.
The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a preparatory meeting at the weekend.
Alongside Egypt and the United States, Qatar has led mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas in the war in Gaza. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also attending the summit.
Among the leaders who gathered on Monday were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are also attending.
Earlier, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged that recent decisions by Britain, France, and other American allies to recognise a Palestinian state have boosted the confidence of Hamas.
“They’re largely symbolic — they have really no impact whatsoever on bringing us any closer to a Palestinian state. The only impact they actually have is it makes Hamas feel more emboldened,” Rubio said at a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gaza death toll exceeds 64,900
At least 64,905 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, as three more people died of starvation in the enclave, the Health Ministry said.
A ministry statement said that 34 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 316 people were wounded, taking the number of injured to 164,926 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
