Qatar, Egypt demand resumption of ceasefire talks, slam Israeli ‘escalation’
Mediators reportedly seeking quick return to negotiating table; Jordan condemns ‘barbaric bombing’ while Turkey calls Israeli airstrikes a ‘new phase in its policy of genocide’
After Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes across Gaza early Tuesday morning, effectively ending a shaky ceasefire, mediators Egypt and Qatar urged a return to the truce and condemned the military activity, as other countries in the region slammed Israel.
Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes, warning that Israel’s “escalating policies will ultimately ignite the region and undermine its security and stability.”
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani demanded international action to compel Israel to implement an immediate ceasefire, abide by the Gaza ceasefire agreement, and return to negotiations as called for under the deal signed in January.
According to a Washington Post report, citing a former Egyptian official briefed on the plan, Egypt and Qatar are working together to push for a renewed ceasefire.
“Egypt and Qatar are planning to have quick connection with Israel side for urgent ceasefire and to start arranging quick meetings in Cairo for entering the next phase and exchange hostages and prisoners in order to achieve peace,” said the official. “Egypt is trying to contact the American side to put some pressure on [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] to accept the ceasefire.”
As recently as Sunday, an Israeli delegation was in Cairo meeting with negotiators about the ceasefire, and a team was also in Doha last week. The ceasefire-hostage release deal, which saw the return of 33 Israeli hostages, including eight bodies, as well as five Thai nationals — in exchange for the release of approximately 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners — went into effect on January 19.
The first stage of the deal expired on March 1, but with negotiations continuing, fighting did not resume in earnest, though Israel did block aid entering the Strip once Hamas halted freeing captives.
Cairo meanwhile condemned Israel’s deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip as part of a bid to “force” the territory’s Palestinian residents into displacement.
In a call between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the pair “condemned and denounced Israel’s resumption of hostilities.”
The statement from Sissi’s office said the strikes were part of “deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement.”
In another statement, Egypt’s foreign ministry called the strikes a “dangerous escalation which threatens to bring serious consequences for the stability of the region.”
Egypt called on the international community to “act immediately to halt the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in order to prevent the region entering a new spiral of violence and counterviolence.”
Jordan also condemned the “Israel’s aggressive and barbaric bombing of the Gaza Strip,” government spokesman Mohammed Momani said, underlining “the need to stop this aggression.”
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the strikes “an inhuman act and a challenge to the international will that supported the ceasefire.”
“Leaders of the Israeli occupation are waging an internal battle at the expense of the blood of children and women in Gaza, risking the lives of Israeli hostages in the Strip,” the regional bloc’s secretary-general said in a statement.
Turkey said Tuesday that the renewed Israeli strikes amounted to a “new phase in its policy of genocide” against Palestinians and urged the international community to take a determined stance to ensure a ceasefire is upheld and humanitarian aid is delivered.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry added it was unacceptable for Israel to cause a “new cycle of violence” in the region.
Iran also said it strongly condemned the strikes, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying the United States had direct responsibility for “the continuation of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meanwhile called on the international community to “compel” Israel to end its “aggression.”
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned the strikes in a statement and called on “the international community to compel the occupation to stop its aggression against our people everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” while Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa issued a similar call during a PA cabinet meeting.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also joins the condemnations, denouncing the renewed escalation “in the strongest terms” and calling on the international community to step in to stop what it describes as crimes against the Palestinians.
Lazar Berman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.