Qatar’s mediatory efforts to stop the aggression in the Gaza Strip remain ongoing, Doha said on Tuesday.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani held high-level talks with a delegation from the U.S. Congress, with the Gaza war high on the agenda on Wednesday.
The discussions centred around the strategic ties binding Qatar and the U.S., with both sides expressing a shared commitment to fortify and advance these relations.
They also spotlighted the latest developments in the region, especially Israel’s relentless war on the Gaza Strip and violence in the occupied West Bank.
The meeting came as Doha expressed “deep regret” over the U.S.’s blocking of Algeria’s United Nations Security Council draft resolution which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“Qatar expresses its deep regret at the impediment of a draft resolution submitted by the brotherly People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Security Council, on behalf of the Arab Group, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The U.S. cast its veto power at the UNSC for the third time since the start of the war on October 7, to block a ceasefire resolution in Gaza, as the genocide nears five months.
Israel has killed over 29,410 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza while forcibly displacing more than 80% of the population.
Algeria presented the draft resolution on behalf of Arab nations on Tuesday that received the majority vote of 13 out of 15 UNSC members in favour of it.
Washington, Tel Aviv’s staunchest ally, stood as the lone voice to vote against the draft while the United Kingdom abstained.
In its statement, Qatar’s foreign ministry stressed that “the ongoing brutal aggression on Gaza exposes time after time the double standards and the differing positions of the international community regarding the systematic war crimes practised by the Israeli occupation.”
“It also exposes its indifference to the tragic humanitarian situation in the Strip. The Ministry stresses that the State of Qatar will continue its efforts in cooperation with regional and international partners to reach an immediate ceasefire, protect civilians, and facilitate the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid to all areas of the Strip,” the statement added.
Qatar’s mediatory efforts to stop the aggression in the Gaza Strip remain ongoing, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said during his weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
He added that the Qatari government was acutely aware of what the MOFA communique referred to as the “unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
The situation in Rafah was especially worrying with at least 1.5 million internally displaced persons seeking refuge there, Al Ansari added.
Despite the large presence of refugees in Gaza’s southwestern governorate, Israel has threatened to storm Rafah in March during the holy month of Ramadan, unless Hamas releases the remaining captives being held in Gaza.
Al Ansari stressed that Qatar rejects such rhetoric and if actionable, a military invasion of the governorate will only worsen the humanitarian crisis.
