Sheikh Mohammed calls for urgent move to second phase as winter storms worsen humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Qatar’s prime minister has warned that daily Israeli breaches of the Gaza ceasefire are threatening the entire agreement, as he called for urgent progress towards the next phase of the deal to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani made the appeal following talks with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday, where he stressed that “delays and ceasefire violations endanger the entire process and place mediators in a difficult position”.
Recommended Stories
list of 2 items
- list 1 of 2Satellite images reveal Israeli demolitions in Gaza during ceasefire
- list 2 of 2Winter storms worsen Gaza humanitarian crisis as UN says aid still blocked
end of list
The Qatari premier, whose country has played a critical mediating role, said humanitarian aid must reach Gaza “unconditionally” and that the second phase of the agreement must begin immediately.
The discussions at the seventh US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue came as the fragile truce continues to fray amid a deepening humanitarian emergency across Gaza.
Israel’s regular violations of ceasefire
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, Israel has violated the agreement at least 738 times, killing at least 394 Palestinians and wounding another 1,075, according to media’s tracking of the violations.
media’s chief US correspondent Alan Fisher said the talks were dominated by three critical issues.
Chief among them was mounting pressure on Israel to halt ceasefire violations, “most of which have been” committed by Israeli forces, he said.
Discussions also focused on forming an international stabilisation force (ISF), expected to include Indonesian and Turkish troops, though Israel has baulked at Turkiye’s involvement, and on Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis, with Qatar urging Washington to press Israel to allow more aid through.
The ceasefire violations reached a critical point over the weekend when Israel assassinated senior Hamas commander Raed Saad in Gaza City.
US President Donald Trump told reporters his administration was “looking into” whether the strike breached the truce, while American officials told US outlet Axios that the White House had sent a sharp rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning him not to “ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal”.
Severe weather piles on misery in Gaza
The humanitarian situation has become desperate as winter storms pummel the territory, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians huddle in flimsy makeshift tents or unsafe, bombed-out buildings.
This has been compounded by Israel’s refusal to allow vital supplies, including mobile homes, into Gaza.
Aid delivery remains severely restricted, with only 39 percent of allocated trucks reaching their destinations inside the enclave, according to its Government Media Office. Israel has blocked nutritious foods while permitting non-essential items to enter.
Om Thursday, a 29-day-old premature baby, Said Asad Abedin, died from severe hypothermia in the al Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Nasser hospital. This has raised the death toll from extreme weather to 13.
A two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, also froze to death earlier this week after developing severe hypothermia.
The United Nations reports that roughly 30,000 children have been affected by storm damage to their shelters, while Israel continues blocking essential winter supplies, including tents and blankets, from entering Gaza.
Hamas’s Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that continued Israeli violations “threaten the viability of the agreement” and urged Trump to compel Israel to honour its commitments.
Netanyahu, however, defended the killing of Saad, accusing Hamas of violating the peace plan by attempting to rearm.
The second phase of the US-backed ceasefire envisions Hamas disarming while Israeli forces withdraw and an international force deploys, both issues which have proved thornier than the first phase, which was mainly limited to an exchange of prisoners and captives.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel was “nearing the end of the first phase” of the ceasefire agreement and was working intensively to secure the return of Master Sergeant Ran Gvili’s remains, the last deceased captive held in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners’ bodies have been returned by Israel, many showing signs of torture, mutilation and execution.
