Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani on Saturday evening received the leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, and called on the international community to act against
Israel's
“brutal attacks”
on the
Gaza
Strip. Gaza.
Read also: Israel relies on force to end the violence
Since Monday, the Israeli army has been pounding the Palestinian enclave controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, which for its part launches hundreds of rockets on the Hebrew state. Since the start of this new round of violence, more than 150 people, most of them Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, have been killed.
"The international community must act urgently to end Israel's brutal and repeated attacks on civilians in Gaza and in the Al-Aqsa Mosque (in East Jerusalem),"
said Qatar's foreign minister, according to a statement released by the official QNA news agency which reported on the meeting with Ismail Haniyeh. The Qatari official reaffirmed
“Qatar's position alongside the Palestinian brothers”
. Close to Hamas while maintaining informal relations with Israel, Doha has regularly played the roles of mediators and donors in Gaza.
For his part, the head of the political office of Hamas, considered a "terrorist" group by Israel, praised Qatar's support.
"The unity of the Arab position at this important moment in the struggle of the Palestinian people is essential,"
said Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in exile.
The visit comes on the day of the destruction by an Israeli strike of the building housing the office of Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press agency in Gaza.
The Qatari television channel denounced a
“war crime”
and a desire to
“silence the media”
.
The building had been evacuated before the raid
The exchanges of fire between Hamas and Israel come after the repression of demonstrations in East Jerusalem, in particular at the Mosque esplanade, the Palestinians protesting in particular against the possible forced eviction of Palestinian families from the district of Sheikh Jarrah for the benefit of Israeli settlers .
"We warned that the Al-Aqsa mosque (in East Jerusalem, third place of Islam, editor's note) was a red line
", also launched Ismaïl Haniyeh, in front of hundreds of supporters during a rally in Doha , according to images released by Al-Jazeera.
“We told (Benjamin) Netanyahu not to play with fire,”
added the head of Hamas's political bureau, referring to the Israeli prime minister.