Egypt, Qatar urge international support for cease-fire in Gaza Strip

By Ibrahim Khazin and Khaled Mejdoup

CAIRO (AA) - Egypt and Qatar urged the international community on Wednesday to support the implementation of the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

And Morocco emphasized the need to ensure access to humanitarian aid in the besieged enclave without obstacles or restrictions.

It came in separate speeches by Egyptian Qatari and Moroccan ministers at the 161 session of the Arab League Council ministerial meeting, according to official sources.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that “it has become clear that Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip aim to make the strip uninhabitable and thus displace its residents.”​​​​​​​

Shoukry pointed out that “this is being done in parallel with practices in the West Bank of settlement, demolitions of homes, and military incursions.”

He reiterated a call for the international community to support Egyptian and Arab efforts to enforce an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire and to stop the bloodshed and the free killing of civilians and children in Palestine.

Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan Al-Muraikhi said: “The Gaza Strip is witnessing an unprecedented and savage war.”

Al-Muraikhi reiterated Qatar's call for the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to fulfill its legal and moral responsibility and compel Israel to a cease-fire.

In his speech, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said his country emphasizes the urgent need for an immediate, comprehensive and permanent cease-fire, and ensuring access to humanitarian aid without obstacles or restrictions.

Bourita affirmed “Morocco's rejection of attempts to forcibly displace civilians and its respect for international law and humanitarian law.”

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive, now in day 152, on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 30,700 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala