Qatar’s emir accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ and ‘systematic killing of innocent civilians’

Qatar’s ruler accuses Israel of carrying out “crimes of genocide” in Gaza, and hits out at what he labels “shameful” international inaction over the Israel-Hamas war.

“It is shameful for the international community to allow this heinous crime to continue for nearly two months, during which the systematic and deliberate killing of innocent civilians continues, including women and children,” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani says, as he opens a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Doha.

“All religious, ethical and humanitarian values have been violated in occupied Palestine through crimes the occupation forces are committing against humanity,” he says.

Israel says it is seeking to destroy Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza, after 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people, most of them civilians massacred amid brutal atrocities, in southern Israel on Oct. 7, and took 240 hostages.

Qatar’s emir says self-defense “doesn’t permit the crimes of genocide that Israel is committing.”

The war has killed over 15,000 people in Gaza, 70% of them women and children, according to unverified figures issued by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel denies targeting civilians, saying it is making extraordinarily extensive efforts to protect them and accusing the Palestinian terror group of building its entire strategy around using civilians as human shields to protect its members from being targeted by Israel.

Qatar has long hosted a Hamas political office, and some of the group’s top leaders are based there.

In an audio recording released this week, Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, threatened to target Hamas leaders everywhere, including in Qatar.