Anadolu staff
02 May 2024•Update: 02 May 2024
DOHA, Qatar
Qatar's foreign minister spoke by phone Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart on ways to de-escalate tensions in the region, particularly ending the war in Gaza and delivering aid to the enclave.
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian discussed “bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the means to enhance it,” according to a statement from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ministers also discussed the latest developments in their countries, “de-escalation, particularly in terms of ending the war in the Gaza Strip and delivering humanitarian aid to the Strip.”
The phone call came about two weeks after Iran launched missile and drone attacks directly from its territory on Israel on April 13 in response to what it said was the targeting by the Israeli military of its consulate section in Damascus, Syria, which Israel countered with “limited attacks” on Iranian targets in the days that followed.
This was followed by intensive contacts and calls from leaders and officials in the Arab and international community in an attempt to prevent an escalation between the two countries amid fears of a regional war.
Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.
More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and thousands injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala
