Qatar, Egypt leaders renew support for Gaza ceasefire, reconstruction plan
In a joint statement released on Monday during a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to Qatar, Cairo and Doha reiterated their support for the Arab-backed Gaza reconstruction plan in the face of calls by the United States and Israel for depopulating the territory, which critics and rights groups have called ethnic cleansing.
The two countries also announced their intention to organise an international conference in Egypt 'in cooperation with regional and international partners, to coordinate humanitarian and development efforts to ensure improved living conditions for the Palestinian people in the Strip'.
The statement stressed the need to 'ensure the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to civilians, and support reconstruction efforts' in Gaza.
Qatar and Egypt emphasised the 'centrality of the Palestinian cause for Arabs', calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders – in Gaza and the occupied West Bank – with East Jerusalem as its capital.
El-Sisi met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, days after US President Donald Trump renewed his call for removing all Palestinians from Gaza.
With full US support, Israel resumed its assault on Gaza last month and imposed a total siege on the territory, cutting off all food and medical supplies to Palestinians there.
Israel and Hamas had agreed a three-phased ceasefire in January, leading to a six-week pause in the fighting.
But after the end of the first stage, which saw Hamas release dozens of Israeli captives, Israel refused to negotiate over the second phase of the agreement or commit to a permanent end to the war.
Since restarting the offensive, Israel has killed more than 1,600 Palestinians, regularly targeting medical facilities, civilian shelters and aid workers.
On Monday, an Israeli attack on Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood killed at least six civilians, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Separately, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that a barrage of air strikes hit the Israeli-designated 'safe area' al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killing at least one person.
In addition to its bombardments, Israel has again been forcibly displacing Palestinians in their thousands.
On Saturday, the Israeli military announced the establishment of a new 'corridor' to cut off Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, from the rest of the territory, raising fears that Israel may be looking to annex the area.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, the Israeli military has killed at least 50,983 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities in the territory. Thousands more have gone missing and are presumed to be dead under the rubble.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said at least 38 people were killed by Israeli attacks on Sunday.
United Nations experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians.
The Gaza Government Media Office on Monday accused Israel of imposing a policy of 'systemic starvation' against Palestinians and rejected plans for Israel to control the distribution of humanitarian assistance – a task currently undertaken by aid groups and United Nations agencies.
'We warn against the plan that the Israeli occupation is trying to pursue by establishing or using security companies and suspicious parties to distribute humanitarian aid,' the office said.
It added that the plan aims to advance Israel's 'colonial agenda' under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Last year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
12 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Five countries complete 90 aid airdrops over Gaza
France, Germany, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have dropped another 90 aid packages over Gaza from aircraft after coordinating with the Israeli military. As the UN and international aid organisations continue to be sidelined from delivering aid to Palestinians by Israel, the Israeli army claimed in a short statement that the air drops are part of its 'series of actions to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip'. The UN, major international humanitarian NGOs and Palestinians themselves say that aid airdrops are ineffective, dangerous and humiliating for starving people. Several people have been injured by aid parcels falling from the sky already since this new round of airdrops began, and, earlier this week, we brought you testimony from a Palestinian journalist who said that people were forced to pick through rice mixed with sand after it was airdropped on the ground. (Agencies)
Qatar Tribune
12 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
World economies reel from US tariffs punch
Agencies Global markets reeled Friday after President Donald Trump's tariffs barrage against nearly all US trading partners as governments looked down the barrel of a seven-day deadline before higher duties take effect. Trump announced late on Thursday that dozens of economies, including the European Union, will face new tariff rates of between 10 and 41 percent. However, implementation will be on August 7 rather than Friday as previously announced, the White House said. This gives governments a window to rush to strike deals with Washington setting more favorable conditions. Neighboring Canada, one of the biggest US trade partners, was hit with 35 percent levies, up from 25 percent, effective Friday — but with wide-ranging, current exemptions remaining in place. The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump sees putting US exporters in a stronger position, while encouraging domestic manufacturing by keeping out foreign imports. But the muscular approach has raised fears of inflation and other economic fallout in the world's biggest economy. Stock markets in Hong Kong, London and New York slumped as they digested the turmoil, while weak US employment data added to worries. Trump's actions come as debate rages over how best to steer the US economy, with the Federal Reserve this week deciding to keep interest rates unchanged, despite massive political pressure from the White House to cut. Data Friday showed US job growth missing expectations for July, while unemployment ticked up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 1.6 percent, while the Nasdaq tumbled 2.2 percent. Trump raised duties on around 70 economies, from a current 10 percent level imposed in April when he unleashed 'reciprocal' tariffs citing unfair trade practices. The new, steeper levels listed in an executive order vary by trading partner. Any goods 'transshipped' through other jurisdictions to avoid US duties would be hit with an additional 40 percent tariff, the order said. But Trump's duties also have a distinctly political flavor, with the president using separate tariffs to pressure Brazil to drop the trial of his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro. He also warned of trade consequences for Canada, which faces a different set of duties, after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. In targeting Canada, the White House cited its failure to 'cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs' — although Canada is not a major source of illegal narcotics. By contrast, Trump gave more time to Mexico, delaying for 90 days a threat to increase its tariffs from 25 percent to 30 percent. But exemptions remain for a wide range of Canadian and Mexican goods entering the United States under an existing North American trade pact. Carney said his government was 'disappointed' with the latest rates hike but noted that with exclusions the US average tariff on Canadian goods remains one of the lowest among US trading partners. With questions hanging over the effectiveness of bilateral trade deals struck — including with the EU and Japan — the outcome of Trump's overall plan remains uncertain. 'No doubt about it — the executive order and related agreements concluded over the past few months tears up the trade rule book that has governed international trade since World War II,' said Wendy Cutler, senior vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. On Friday, Trump said he would consider distributing a tariff 'dividend' to Americans. Notably excluded from Friday's drama was China, which is in the midst of negotiations with the United States. Washington and Beijing at one point brought tit-for-tat tariffs to triple-digit levels, but have agreed to temporarily lower these duties and are working to extend their truce. Those who managed to strike deals with Washington to avert steeper threatened levies included Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union. Among other tariff levels adjusted in Trump's latest order, Switzerland now faces a higher 39 percent duty.
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Hamas denies it expressed willingness to disarm, slams Witkoff's Gaza trip
Hamas has denied claims it expressed a willingness to disarm during Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Israel, stressing that it has 'national and legal' rights to confront the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. In a statement on Saturday, the Palestinian group rejected recent remarks purportedly made by United States President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, during a meeting with relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Citing a recording of the talks, Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that the US envoy told the families that Hamas said it was 'prepared to be demilitarised'. But Hamas said in its statement that the group's right to resistance 'cannot be relinquished until our full national rights are restored, foremost among them the establishment of a fully sovereign, independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital'. Witkoff met the Israeli captives' families in Tel Aviv on Saturday, one day after he visited a US and Israeli-backed aid distribution site run by the controversial GHF in Gaza. More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed trying to get food at GHF-run sites since the group began operating in the bombarded Palestinian enclave in May, the United Nations said earlier this week. Hamas had earlier slammed Witkoff's visit as a 'staged show' aimed at misleading the public about the situation in Gaza, where Israel's blockade has spurred a starvation crisis and fuelled global condemnation. But the Trump administration has stood firmly behind GHF despite the killings and growing global criticism of the group's operations in Gaza. In June, Washington announced that it approved $30m to support GHF. Witkoff's comments on disarmament come amid a widening international push to recognise a Palestinian state amid the scenes of starvation in Gaza. The United Kingdom announced at a two-day United Nations conference in New York this week that it may follow France in recognising a Palestinian state in September. Echoing an earlier statement by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said London would proceed with recognition if Israel did not meet certain conditions, including implementing a ceasefire in Gaza. The UN meeting also saw 17 countries, plus the European Union and the Arab League, back a seven-page text on reviving a two-state solution to the conflict. The text called on Hamas to 'end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State'.
