The GCC summit in Qatar also adjourned with the Doha Declaration, a joint statement that underscored the regional bloc’s rejection of Israel’s ongoing crimes in Gaza.

Qatar’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza are ongoing and its “primary goal” is to halt the war, the Gulf state’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the press in Doha on Tuesday.

The remarks of Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister, came during a press conference that concluded the 44th Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha.

Speaking alongside the GCC’s Secretary-General, Jasem Al Budaiwi, Sheikh Mohammed said the meeting “stressed the continuation of mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire”.

“We will continue to make efforts to restore the truce and release hostages and prisoners,” the Qatari official said.

Qatar has played a pivotal mediating role since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in Gaza to reach a permanent ceasefire. The Gulf state’s efforts eventually culminated in a week-long truce in Gaza from November 24 until December 1.

The pause saw the release of at least 110 captives from Hamas in Gaza in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, according to a Doha News tally.

However, the Israeli bombardment was quick to resume after the truce expired on Friday at 7:00 AM local time.

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, the occupation forces have killed at least 15,899 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The figure is expected to be much higher since the collapse of Gaza’s health sector had disabled the tracking of the death toll after the ground invasion of Al-Shifa Hospital on November 18.

The GCC summit in Qatar also adjourned with the Doha Declaration, a joint statement that underscored the regional bloc’s rejection of Israel’s ongoing crimes in Gaza.

The joint declaration stated that the leaders at the high-profile event in Qatar discussed the Israeli violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem while condemning the “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.

“The summit affirmed the GCC’s support for the brotherly Palestinian people and its continued support for alleviating the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip and extending a helping hand to rebuild what the Israeli war machine destroyed in its attacks on the Strip during the past years,” the declaration added.

The GCC’s leaders warned of the expansion of the war to other areas in the Middle East if the Israeli aggression persists. 

The declaration warned that the expansion of the Gaza aggression into a wider war in the region will have “serious consequences for the people of the region and for international peace and security.”

The regional leaders further called on the international community to interfere to reach a ceasefire and the protection of Palestinian civilians.

The final communique separately held Israel responsible for its ongoing attacks on “innocent civilians” while expressing the GCC’s rejection to Israel’s justifications behind the continuation of the aggression in Gaza as a form of “self defence”.

The GCC statement echoed the remarks made by Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani earlier during his speech at the summit. The Qatari leader stressed that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza under the pretext of self defence.

“All of this is carried out under the pretext of self-defence, even though self-defence is inapplicable to the occupation under international law, yet this does not sanction the genocide crimes committed by Israel,” Sheikh Tamim told the summit.

Israel has been committing the atrocities in Gaza under the pretext of “self defence” following the Hamas operation on October 7.

Known as “Al Aqsa Flood”, the operation saw the Al-Qassam Brigades—Hamas’ armed wing—infiltrate the occupied territories through air, land and sea while returning to Gaza with at least 240 captives. 

Since Friday, the Israeli bombardment has been targeting the north, centre and south of the Strip, as Israeli tanks continue to advance deeper into Gaza.

Sheikh Tamim said the tragedies on the ground in Gaza “could have been spared if Israel and its supporters had come  to  realise  the  fact  that  the  cause  of  the  Palestinian  people  cannot  be marginalised.

“The age of colonialism has come to an end, security is  unattainable  without  lasting  peace,  and  that  both  security  and  peace  are unachievable without a just solution to this cause,” he said.