Prime minister, Blinken discuss Gaza truce efforts

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani received at Lusail Palace on TuesdaySecretary of State of the United States of America HEAnthony Blinken, who is currently visiting the country.

They reviewed the close strategic relations between the two friendly countries, the developments in the situation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, the expanding circle of violence in the region, and its repercussions on regional and global security and stability. The meeting also discussed the efforts of the two countries to reach an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,paving the way for a just, comprehensive and sustainable solution to the Palestinian issue.

In this regard, the two sides discussed resuming the exchange of detainees and prisoners between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). They also discussed accelerating and increasing the pace of introducing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip due to the urgent and pressing needs, especially for water, food and medicine.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that ending the aggression against Gaza is no longer a demand of the residents of the Gaza Strip only, but has become a demand of all the peoples of the region and the world after the past few weeks witnessed the expansion of the circle of war and its expansion from the borders of the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories to the surrounding countries.

He said that the expanding cycle of violence in the region, which suffers from ongoing and chronic crises and conflicts, increases the complexity of the situation and exposes the existing negotiations to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip to danger.

He renewed Qatar’s call on all parties to exercise the utmost levels of self-restraint, give priority to the voice of wisdom, avoid escalation and not take decisions that might lead to more bloodshed, refrain from harming civilians and freedom of commercial navigation.

He stressed that the military option will not solve the crises in the region, stressing the need to address the root causes of the various forms of escalation in the region, most notably the main issue, which is the Palestinian issue, and depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, pointing to the catastrophic repercussions that will result from stopping support for the United Nations agency for Relief and Works for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In this context, he called for sparing the agency as an international institution with well-established values ​​and traditions from the allegations that affected a number of its employees who are under investigation.