Qatar blasts Israel over IDF counter-strikes in Gaza and Lebanon

Qatar’s foreign ministry “strongly condemns the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon,” referring to IDF air strikes in response to rocket fire from both territories.

“The foreign ministry holds Israel solely responsible for widening the cycle of violence,” it says in a statement, citing Israeli police beating of Palestinian worshippers on the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound two days ago. Israel maintains that its troops were forced to enter the mosque after Palestinians barricaded themselves inside and stockpiled weapons to use against police and civilians.

Doha “also stresses the need for the international community to act urgently” to coax Israel to halt its actions, its foreign ministry adds, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines.