Shura Council speaker, Shaikha bint Yousuf Hassan Al Jufairi, affirmed Qatar’s unwavering commitment to supporting Palestine amid Israel’s deadly escalations against the enclave.
In preparation for an Arab Parliament special session, which will be held on Thursday, an emergency meeting took place in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation in Gaza.
Wednesday’s meeting was with the Palestine Committee of Arab Parliament. It unpacked the harrowing developments unfolding, Qatar News Agency reported.
This comes at a time of no let up from Israel’s air and land offensives against the besieged enclave as well as search and raid operations in the occupied West Bank, which often turn deadly.
Human rights watchdog Euro-Med Monitor’s latest figures from Wednesday estimated that Gaza’s civilian death toll from October 7 to December 27 now stands at 26,706. The overwhelming majority of casualties are women and children.
Representing Qatar’s Shura Council at Wednesday’s emergency meeting was Shaikha bint Yousuf Hassan Al Jufairi.
As well as a member of the Legal and Legislative Committee of the Qatari Shura Council, Al Jufairi is also a member of the Palestine Committee of the Arab Parliament.
At Wednesday’s emergency meeting, she stressed the importance of the need for more aid to reach Gaza, as Euro-Med reports almost two million Palestinians experiencing internal displacement and 56,122 Palestinians in the enclave are reported injured.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ latest impact report published on Wednesday, 44% of families in Gaza are experiencing very severe hunger and the north of the enclave has been completely cut off from clean water supplies.
In light of this, Al Jufairi reaffirmed Qatar’s drive to provide Palestine with medical, humanitarian and development assistance to improve the quality of life and uphold the human rights of Palestinians.
On Monday, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the safe arrival of the fifth group of injured evacuees from Gaza into Doha to receive medical treatment.
As part of the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s initiative for 1,500 Palestinians from Gaza to be treated in Doha’s hospitals, the state is working in cooperation with Egypt to facilitate the Strip’s wounded to be safely evacuated.
Medical and humanitarian assistance to the enclave is compounded by Israel’s continued shelling offensive, which doesn’t even spare humanitarian aid convoys.
In a December 12 UN news release, Dr Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that humanitarian missions into Gaza are fraught with delays during Israeli checkpoint inspections.
“[We] cannot afford any delays,” the WHO official said in light of Israel crippling Gaza’s health sector.
Dr Peeperkorn also said there were instances of aid trucks and ambulances attempting to reach Gaza being hit by bullets.
On Thursday, the Arab Parliament will convene in Cairo for the ‘Supporting Palestine and Gaza’ special session to discuss Israel’s continuous pounding of Gaza and escalations taking place in the West Bank.
