Qatar calls for urgent international action to avert full-scale Middle East conflict

New York: The State of Qatar has urged the international community to immediately act to defuse the tension and spare the Middle East region the peril...

New York: The State of Qatar has urged the international community to immediately act to defuse the tension and spare the Middle East region the peril of being dragged into a new vortex of conflicts. It urged all parties to de-escalate the situation and exercise maximum restraint, stressing that the worrying developments that have been unfolding in the region during the past days underscore, Qatar's repeated warning of the peril of the spillover of conflict, unless the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip is ceased.

This came in the statement of State of Qatar delivered by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations HE Sheikha Alya Ahmad bin Saif Al Thani before the meeting of the quarterly open debate on "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The situation in the Gaza Strip amounts to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and the State of Qatar reiterates its condemnation of all forms of targeting the civilians and civic facilities, including the collective punishment, deprivation of food and essential services, using starvation as a weapon and attempts of forced displacement of residents conducted by the de facto occupation power, Her Excellency pointed out.

She underlined that the State of Qatar warns of the humanitarian and security consequences of these practices and rejects any military operation launched by the occupation forces in Rafah city, stating that the status quo precipitates the full respect of the international law, the international humanitarian law, and the international human rights law, in addition to taking all essential steps to end the humanitarian catastrophe and stave off famine.

HE Sheikha Alya Ahmad bin Saif Al Thani pointed out that such matter requires unhindered delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid immediately and safely, adding that the humanitarian actors emphasize that the only way for that is to reach an immediate ceasefire.