UAE Ambassador Mariam Khalifa Al Kaabi affirmed that the UAE continues to mobilise efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip….reports Asian Lite News
The United Arab Emirates participated in an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League Council regarding Palestine, which was held in Cairo, Egypt.
Mariam Khalifa Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, headed the UAE delegation.
In her speech at the Arab League headquarters, Ambassador Al Kaabi affirmed that the UAE continues to mobilise efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Al Kaabi underscored the UAE’s dedication to provide protection for civilians, extend humanitarian aid, and collaborate with partners to work towards a comprehensive peace solution.
During her address, Al Kaabi highlighted the proactive stance of the UAE’s leadership, which has engaged in numerous diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives in support of the Palestinian cause.
She emphasised the success of the UAE’s non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, during which resolutions 2712 and 2720 were adopted.
Al Kaabi highlighted that the UAE strongly condemns Israel’s policy of collective punishment against Palestinians and reiterated the UAE’s rejection of any attempts to displace them. She stressed the nation’s unwavering focus on safeguarding civilian lives, providing essential relief and medical aid to Gaza residents, and preventing further escalation that could threaten regional stability.
The extraordinary meeting, at the level of permanent representatives of member states in the Arab League and convened at the request of Palestine with the backing of Arab countries, discussed Israeli actions against the Palestinian people. Discussions also centred on potential political, legal, and economic measures to be supported within the Arab League framework.
The meeting highlighted the escalating Israeli offenses in the West Bank, the systematic destruction of infrastructure in Palestinian refugee camps, daily raids in dozens of cities, villages, and camps, the killing and injuring of hundreds of Palestinian citizens, the demolition of homes, and the inhumane detention of thousands.
Qatar’s new peace initiatives
Qatar, the chief negotiator in the Israel-Hamas war, has said it is getting replies from both Israel and the Hamas as it engages in serious discussions with them to find a new solution to end the war that includes a two-state formula.
The war has so far killed over 20,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Israeli soldiers in a span of over 100 days.
Qatar said it’s engaged in “serious discussions” with Israel and Hamas and is receiving “constant replies” from both sides. But statements made by Israeli officials “lead to a harder mediation process”, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, said in a news conference on Tuesday.
“Obviously, when one side says they don’t accept the two state-solution and that they won’t stop this war eventually… it leads to a harder mediation process,” Al-Ansari pointed out.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected global calls, including from the US, for Palestinian sovereignty following talks with US President Joe Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.
Communication breakdown and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza has impacted the talks from yielding results, media reports said.
But mediation is in full swing with Qatar exchanging ideas between both sides, Al-Ansari said.
“Our negotiators are working around the clock to exchange these ideas, a lot of these media reports are either missing elements or completely false,” he said in response to news reports that Israel offered a two-month ceasefire to Hamas as part of a prospective hostage deal.
Meanwhile, the situation around the Khan Younis hospitals is deteriorating amid intense shelling, the United Nations said.
The UN says that the situation at hospitals in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza has deteriorated as Israeli military operations in the area have expanded, CNN reported from Gaza.
“Reportedly, Israeli forces struck the vicinity of Al-Amal hospital and the ambulance headquarters, as intense fighting continued in the area, including dozens of casualties,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, adding that it estimated that “13,000 displaced people who have taken shelter in Al Amal Hospital and the PRCS [Palestinian Red Crescent Society] headquarters were unable to leave”.
OCHA cited humanitarian partners as saying that people in the vicinity and in the Al Kheir area east of Al Mawasi had lost access to the health facility, reports said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that it had surrounded Khan Younis and instructed civilians to leave several districts and move towards the coast, which it described was “safer”.
Roads leading to Al-Amal hospital were closed due to ongoing shooting by IDF in Khan Younis, the PRCS said on Tuesday. Separately, the UN relief agency in Gaza said that one of its shelters in the Khan Younis area had been hit.
At least six displaced people were killed and many more injured during intense fighting around the shelter. Terrified staff, patients and displaced people are now trapped inside the few remaining hospitals in Khan Younis as heavy fighting continues,” the agency’s director, Phillipe Lazzarini, said on X.
ALSO READ: Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector attracts national talents
