Qatar emir, US secretary of state discuss mediation efforts on Gaza cease-fire

By Ibrahim Khazen

DOHA, Qatar (AA) - Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed with the US secretary of state the latest mediation efforts to reach a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting on Wednesday with Antony Blinken was held in Doha. Also in attendance was Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to the Qatar News Agency.

The meeting discussed “the close strategic relations between the two friendly countries and ways to support and develop them across various fields,” the official news agency said.

They also discussed the most prominent regional and international developments of common concern, “primarily the developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to the ongoing mediation efforts to reach an immediate cease-fire and secure the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”

On Wednesday, Blinken arrived in Qatar from Jordan, which was his last stop in a three-day tour of the Middle East that also included visits to Egypt and Israel.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 84,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​