Qatar slams Israel's 'systematic discrimination and illegal occupation of the Palestinian people'

At least eight Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of Ramadan.

Qatar has strongly condemned Israel’s attacks on defenceless Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Tuesday.

“Qatar re-emphasises the sanctity of all Jerusalem’s holy places and condemns the storming of the Al Aqsa mosque by Israeli settlers and attacks by Israeli police on Palestinians in and around places of worship,” said the Gulf state’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The ministry added that the attacks carried out by the Zionist state “are an extension of Israel’s ongoing systematic discrimination and illegal occupation of the Palestinian people.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses the need for the international community to unite to urgently condemn and call for an end to Israel’s continuous violations of Palestinian rights,” said MOFA.

The apartheid state’s attacks have intensified since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, killing and detaining Palestinians in Jenin, Jericho, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem.

Israeli forces and settler mobs, with the support of the Zionist state, have been storming the houses of Palestinians whilst disrupting Muslims’ prayers at mosques.

Israeli settler mobs are also threatening to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque to slaughter sacrifices for the Jewish Passover holiday with the support of the occupation’s forces.

Social media users in Qatar express outrage at Israel’s latest killings of Palestinians

Qatar has renewed its support for Palestinians and their rights to independence as well as the sovereignty based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Gulf state has repeatedly ruled out normalising with Israel as long as it continues its illegal occupation of Palestine. Qatar continues to commit to the Arab Peace Initiative, which was adopted in 2002 by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The initiative states that member countries shall refrain from normalising with Israel until it fully withdraws from lands occupied in 1967.

Increasing attacks

Israel, which claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East, has increased its crackdowns and killings of Palestinians, including children.

Israeli police claimed a man from Jenin, 28 year-old Raad Hazem, had allegedly killed three Israelis and wounded more than a dozen others in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

The occupation’s forces have also attempted to arrest Hazem’s father and threatened to demolish his house. Israeli forces have since conducted raids with the complete support of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet.

At least eight Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of Ramadan, including 17-year-old Moahmmad Zakarneh.

The latest victim, 34-year-old Mohammad Hasan Assaf, was killed on Wednesday during a military raid into Nablus.

According to Palestine’s news agency (WAFA), Assaf was amongst the ten people shot during the raid as a citizen was burned by a gas bomb. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) also ran over a Palestinian with their military vehicle.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces shot dead 41-year-old Palestinian worker, Abdullah Srour, in Asqalan.

Palestinian paramedics struggle to attend to the injuries sustained during the attacks and urgent situations as they are often stopped by Israeli forces.

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In a separate incident on Tuesday, Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian paramedics who were trying to help people who were injured in a traffic accident in Ramallah.

On the same day, Israeli forces raided the campus of Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. They fired tear gas and rubber bullets at students.

WAFA also reported that 17 Palestinians have been detained separately on the same day in the West Bank, after detaining 23 others on Monday.

Palestinian prisoner rights groups said that in March alone, Zionist forces detained 539 Palestinians, including 62 minors, and issued 195 administrative detention orders against Palestinians.

There are currently 4,450 Palestinians detained by Israel, suffering physical and mental abuses.

Palestinian rights group Al-Haq has called for the international community’s intervention to stop the escalating violence carried out by the apartheid state.

“It is likely that if the situation continues to escalate as it is currently, there will be more Palestinians killed and wounded by both IOF and colonial settler attacks over the coming days,” warned Al-Haq.

The rights group added that “failing to take immediate and direct actions” will contribute to intensified systematic attacks by the occupying power.

“Words of condemnation are not enough. Israel’s long-established unlawful policies and regime of oppression will not come to an end as long as the international community fails to take concrete actions against it,” it said.

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