Qatar has been juggling humanitarian and diplomatic efforts in Gaza by continuing its mediation efforts in hopes of achieving a ceasefire.

The Turkiye-Qatar Gaza Goodness Ship set off from the Turkish Mersin International Port on Wednesday to Egypt’s Port of El-Arish, carrying 1,908 tonnes of vital humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave.

The ship is carrying 1,358 tonnes of aid provided by the Qatar Fund for Development and 550 tonnes donated by Turkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lolwah Al Khater, witnessed the ship’s departure.

Al Khater described the latest joint Qatari initiative with Turkiye as another symbol of the strength of both countries’ ties, noting that there will be more humanitarian cooperation.

The Qatari official also highlighted the struggles of Gaza’s 2.2 million population under the ongoing Israeli war and blockade.

She noted that Gaza’s population “have been struggling for seven months with the horrors of killing, forced displacement, and hunger while producing unforgettable stories of steadfastness and sacrifice that inspired the whole world.

“The flow of sustainable and unhindered humanitarian aid to the entire Gaza Strip is a humanitarian duty and a legal obligation that falls primarily on the occupation forces, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Al Khater said, as cited by Qatar’s foreign ministry.

Commenting on Israel’s latest move of invading the key Rafah Crossing, Al Khater said the attack halted aid delivery. 

Notably, Al Khater has been at the forefront of Qatar’s aid and evacuation efforts. Last November, she became the first high-ranking Arab official to enter Gaza when she visited Rafah.

Al Khater also underlined the cruciality of international action to halt the ongoing war in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

With Israel blocking the entry of life-saving aid into Gaza, Al Khater said that it must stop “the policy of collective punishment” and its use of “food and aid as a weapon in this war.”

Gaza has been under a complete Israeli blockade since the beginning of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023. Israel has since killed more than 34,800 people while displacing more than 85 percent of the population.

At least 31 children have also died as a result of severe malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza due to the absence of basic resources and aid, according to the United Nations’ flash update on Wednesday.

Israel’s invasion of the land crossing on Tuesday has completely blocked the entry of aid and stopped thousands awaiting urgent evacuation from leaving Gaza.

Hunger levels have been on the rise, with 1.1 million people facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. 

Israel’s attacks on hospitals and prevention of the entry of basic resources also forced more than half of Gaza’s health facilities to go out of service. Currently, there are 12 partially functioning hospitals in Gaza out of an initial 36, according to the UN.

The hospitals that have gone out of service include the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the biggest health facility in Gaza and one of the most important ones in the entirety of Palestine.

Israeli occupation forces raided the hospital in March for two consecutive weeks, where they detained hundreds of Palestinians and killed hundreds of others, including medics, patients and displaced people.

On Wednesday, Gaza’s health workers uncovered at least 49 bodies at the Al-Shifa hospital in what became the third such discovery of a mass grave at the facility.

Under Israel’s efforts to deprive Palestinians of life-saving assistance, the occupation forces 260 aid workers including 191 UN staff and 27 Palestinian Red Crescent members, according to the UN.

Also on Wednesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said it was running out of fuel in Gaza.

“Without fuel, trucks cannot move critical humanitarian assistance, water pumps will stop functioning and the remaining hospitals will shut down,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, warned.

“This happens at a time we are racing against the clock to respond to immense humanitarian needs across the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Ceasefire efforts ongoing

Meanwhile, Qatar has been juggling humanitarian and diplomatic efforts in Gaza by continuing its mediation efforts in hopes of achieving a ceasefire.

Hopes over a ceasefire in Gaza first emerged on Monday when Hamas accepted a Qatari-Egyptian proposal, which entailed a 124-day truce that would eventually lead to a lasting ceasefire.

However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the proposal did not meet Israel’s demands and sent an Israeli technical team for Tuesday’s talks in Cairo.

The talks gathered delegations from Qatar, the U.S., Egypt, Hamas and Israel.

Citing high-level sources, Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported that the parties discussed “some details” with “noticeable consensus on some controversial points.”

CIA chief William Burns also travelled from Cairo to Tel Aviv on Wednesday where he met Netanyahu and Mossad chief David Barnea. Burns then returned to Cairo to continue the talks on the same day, signalling that the discussions will continue on Thursday. 

Burns reportedly told the Israeli officials that he still saw a chance for a deal with Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported.

The Israeli invasion of Rafah on Tuesday placed the negotiations at risk and angered the U.S., its main military backer and staunchest supporter.

Speaking to reporters in Beirut on Tuesday, Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned that there will be no agreement if Israel continues its aggression in Rafah.

In a rare move against its ally, Washington decided to pause the shipment of thousands of bombs to Tel Aviv including ones weighing 2,000 pounds (more than 900 kg).

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden publicly said he would halt the shipments of weapons to Israel if Netanyahu ordered a full-scale invasion of Rafah.

He also admitted that American weapons were used to kill civilians in Gaza.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” he added.