UN chief, Qatari premier discuss efforts to enforce cease-fire in Gaza, says official

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday discussed ongoing efforts to enforce the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani.

"The Prime Minister was here. They've no surprise discussed the efforts underway to end the fighting to secure the release of the hostages, and to ensure support for humanitarian operations," Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

When Dujarric was asked if Guterres was given "any timeline for a potential start to a new cessation" (of hostilities between Israel and Hamas), Dujarric said: "He was briefed on the latest," without providing any further information.

To another question, if al-Thani offered any new funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA, he said: "The issue of humanitarian funding was discussed in a very positive atmosphere."

So far, the US, Germany, UK, Australia, Austria, Italy, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland have all announced the suspension of funding for the agency over Israeli allegations that some of its staffers were involved in Palestinian group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing at least 27,131 Palestinians and injuring 66,287. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced 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.