Israel has issued at least 20 displacement orders between March 18 and April 14, with nearly 420,000 people displaced again since the war resumed.
Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, has voiced the Gulf state’s frustration over the slow pace of the Gaza ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel.
“We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day,” Al-Khulaifi told AFP in an interview on Friday, which was published on Sunday.
The top Qatari negotiator’s remarks came a month after Israel resumed its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, ending a ceasefire deal brokered on January 15 by Qatar, Egypt and the United States following a long period of stalemate.
The truce deal was initially split into three phases, each lasting 42 days, in an effort to reach a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The first phase ended on March 1 as talks stalled again, with Israel violating the deal on numerous occasions before relaunching its assaults.
Israel has since insisted on Hamas releasing at least 10 captives while refusing to completely halt the brutal war. This is despite Hamas fulfilling the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire deal by releasing 33 captives.
Al-Khulaifi stressed that Qatar will remain committed to its mediation efforts despite the challenges. The Qatari official has also tapped into the ongoing criticism his country has faced from Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since assuming its crucial mediation role.
“Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise,” he said.
Israel has intensified its brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip while causing a dire humanitarian crisis by completely blocking the entry of essential aid.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel has killed at least 61,700 Palestinians since the beginning of the genocide on October 7, 2023, with the figure believed to be higher with thousands still trapped under the rubble.
The United Nations says Israel has issued at least 20 displacement orders between March 18 and April 14, with nearly 420,000 people displaced again since the war resumed. Israel had already displaced about 90 percent of the blockaded territory’s 2.1 million population.
On March 18, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, condemned Israel’s renewed assaults, describing them as “another heinous crime perpetuated by the occupation without any sense of responsibility”.
“We reiterate Qatar’s steadfast position in support of the brotherly Palestinian people, and we call for immediate and decisive international action to compel Israel to implement an immediate ceasefire, abide by the agreement, and return to negotiations,” he said in a post on X at the time.
