DOHA / ISTANBUL

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called on the international community on Monday to firmly confront Israel’s starvation policy against the Palestinians in Gaza.

His call came during a meeting in Doha with Sigrid Kaag, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, who is currently visiting Qatar.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed relations between Qatar and the UN and ways to bolster them, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Both sides also reviewed “the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, particularly the challenges facing humanitarian action, and ways to cooperate to deliver humanitarian aid sustainably and without hindrance to all areas of the Strip,” the statement said.

Sheikh Mohammed urged the international community “to shoulder its responsibilities to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to firmly confront the starvation policy pursued by the Israeli occupation in its brutal war against the brotherly Palestinian people.”

Over 48,500 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 112,000 have been injured in a brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 2023. The assault, which left the enclave in ruins, was paused under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold on Jan. 19.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.