Israel has wiped out hundreds of Palestinian families from the civil registry in Gaza during its brutal onslaught that has persisted without a ceasefire in sight.

Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lolwah Al Khater expressed her condolences Tuesday for the loss of Awad Hasan Zayed, father of Georgetown University-Qatar (GU-Q) student Ahmed Awad Zayed. Mr. Zayed succumbed to injuries sustained from an Israeli air strike in Gaza.

The top Qatari official took to her X page to express grief over the tragedy, noting that the Gulf state has made attempts to evacuate the student’s family from Gaza.

“In the past three months, we have submitted several official requests to the respective authorities to evacuate Ahmed’s family through [the] Rafah crossing and bring them to Qatar to join Ahmed,” Al Khater said. 

The Qatari diplomat added that the family were denied approval to exit Gaza despite Doha’s “pleas and the active and constant diplomatic engagement.”

Notably, the Gulf state has evacuated hundreds of wounded Palestinians from Gaza under an initiative by Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to treat 1,500 injured Palestinians.

“The rest of Ahmed’s family are still stuck in Gaza, and with the atrocious military operation in Rafah, they are in grave danger. We hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the safety of Ahmed’s remaining family in Gaza, requesting immediate approval to allow them to cross Rafah borders in order to evacuate them to Qatar,” Al Khater added.

She stressed that the GU-Q student’s family is not the only one Qatar has been trying to evacuate from Gaza, noting “there are hundreds who have been denied [permission] to leave despite all the diplomatic efforts and pressure.”

“All civilians in Gaza must be protected, and this brutal massacre must stop,” she said, without elaborating on the complications faced at the border with Egypt.

Zayed first announced his loss in an emotional Instagram post on February 8.

“My father is a martyr; praise be to God, martyrdom looks good on you!” he said.

“I’ve missed you, Dad. I’ve missed you a lot. I’ve missed seeing you, extending my hand to hold and kiss yours with all of its wrinkles and details of the 58 years you’ve lived,” Zayed added as he recounted memories he shared with his late father.

Social media users and Zayed’s classmates at GU-Q have shown their support via various social media posts by expressing solidarity and sharing prayers.

Some shared a video interview of a younger Zayed with Al Jazeera during the 2008 Israeli assault on Gaza, which was also a year after the siege took effect and turned the enclave into what has been widely described as the world’s largest open-air prison.

Israel killed at least 1,400 Palestinians, including 300 children, during the deadly 2008-2009 war, also known as Operation ‘Cast Lead.’ Zayed’s father is now among the 28,473 Palestinians killed during Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

In the video, a younger Zayed was calling on the international community to pay attention to Gaza’s situation.

“Look at how our children are scattered at schools and sitting on the floor without beds, food, water, or electricity. Is this a life? This is a blockade! This is the biggest Israeli blockade,” he had said.

Yasser, a journalist who shared the video on X, highlighted the constant struggle of Palestinians in Gaza. 

“Today, 16 years later, the young Ahmed mourns his father, Awad Zayed, who was killed by ‘Israel’ during the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza. The sadness in Gaza is endless,” Yasser said on X.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has wiped out hundreds of Palestinian families from the civil registry in Gaza during the brutal onslaught that has persisted without a ceasefire in sight. In recent days, Israel intensified its attacks on Rafah in the southern Strip as it prepares to invade the city.

Israeli military chief Yoav Gallant said on February 1 that Israel will expand its ground invasion to Rafah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office then issued a statement on February 9 saying it was keen on “eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah.”

Netanyahu also ordered the Israeli military “to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.” Rafah has already been subjected to deadly bombardment since last week after Israel carried out deadly attacks in Khan Younis.

Qatar condemned Israel’s threats to invade Rafah on Saturday while urging the United Nations Security Council to prevent Israel from “committing genocide.”

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that “the major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than one million people sheltering there.”

Washington has been among Israel’s most active military backers since the beginning of the war on Gaza and has rejected all calls for a permanent ceasefire. Israel is also the largest beneficiary of US foreign military aid, receiving an annual $3.8 billion into its economy.

The invasion of densely-populated Rafah would be catastrophic and could create a major refugee crisis, a concern that Egypt has expressed. Reports said that Egypt started fortifying the shared Rafah Crossing, though authorities denied the claim.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is under immense domestic and international pressure to open the border to facilitate the movement of Palestinians seeking to evacuate and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Strip.