DOHA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday emphasised that Israel’s brazen aggression in the Middle East must be stopped and the Muslim Ummah needed unity among its ranks in the face of Israeli provocations, assuring the Qatari leadership of Pakistan’s full solidarity and support in the face of unjustified provocation by Israel.
Shehbaz undertook an official visit to the State of Qatar to express solidarity with the people and the leadership of the State of Qatar in the wake of the recent Israeli attack on Doha.
The prime minister, during his meeting with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, conveyed Pakistan’s strongest condemnation of the Israeli attack on Doha on September 9, terming it a blatant and flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also conveyed deep sympathies on the loss of precious lives in this dastardly and heinous attack by Israel and prayed for speedy recovery of the injured.
The prime minister said that the leadership and people of Pakistan were deeply disturbed by this attack against the brotherly State of Qatar, that constituted a serious breach of international law.
While reaffirming the historic, fraternal bonds between Pakistan and Qatar, he stated that the two countries had proudly stood with each other through thick and thin.
It was in this spirit of brotherhood that Pakistan stood shoulder to shoulder with the emir, the royal family of Qatar and with the brotherly people of Qatar during this challenging time.
He assured the Qatari leadership of Pakistan’s full solidarity and support in the face of this unjustified provocation. The prime minister appreciated Qatar’s responsible and constructive mediatory role in efforts to bring peace in Gaza, and stressed that such acts of Israeli aggression were clearly meant to undermine regional stability and threaten ongoing diplomatic and humanitarian efforts.
He said that at Qatar’s request, Pakistan had requested for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the recent developments in the Middle East.
He also welcomed Qatar’s decision to host an Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on September 15 (Monday), and said Pakistan had indicated its willingness to the OIC to co-sponsor and co-convene the summit.
The prime minister also thanked the emir for Qatar’s strong support for Pakistan during its stand-off with India earlier this year.
The emir thanked the prime minister for his thoughtful gesture of visiting Doha to express his solidarity with Qatar at this time.
Both leaders agreed to maintain close coordination in promoting regional peace, upholding international law and supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
This visit reaffirmed the deep-rooted brotherly ties between Pakistan and Qatar and their shared commitment to peace and stability in the region. Later, the prime minister returned to Islamabad after concluding the one-day official visit to Qatar. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement that was agreed by all 15 members, including Israel’s ally the United States.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” it said.
Meanwhile, the funeral for six people martyred in an Israeli strike targeting Hamas in Qatar began in a Doha mosque amid tight security as the Gulf state´s ruler joined mourners. One coffin bearing a Qatari flag and five others bearing Palestinian flags were brought to the mosque, live footage from Qatar television showed.
Facing the coffins, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani prayed alongside dozens of mourners, some wearing traditional white robes, others wearing military uniform.
The interior ministry said the dead would be buried in the Mesaimeer Cemetery after the funeral at Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque.
Authorities beefed up security, with checkpoints on access roads to the mosque.
Israel targeted Hamas leaders in Doha with air strikes on Tuesday but the group said its top officials survived. Hamas said five of its members were martyred -- top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya´s son Hamam, his office director Jihad Labad and bodyguards Ahmad Mamlouk, Abdallah Abdelwahd and Mumen Hassoun. Qatari Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari was also martyred. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he could not confirm Hayya´s fate. The Hamas chief negotiator was not seen at the funeral, in the footage viewed by AFP.
Pictures shared on Hamas´s Telegram channel showed Osama Hamdan -- a senior figure in the movement -- attending the burial of the movement´s dead, along with political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq.
A post by the group said several Hamas members were present at the funeral. Sheikh Mohammed said the Israeli attack had killed any hope for Israeli hostages in Gaza, adding that Qatar was reevaluating “everything” surrounding its role as mediator in ceasefire talks. Doha has been a venue for several rounds of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel. The emirate allowed Hamas to set up a political office in Doha in 2012 with the blessing of the United States, which has sought to maintain a communication channel with the group. Sheikh Mohammed said he hoped for a collective regional response to the attack.
Meanwhile, Hamas accused the United States of complicity in Israel´s deadly attack on its negotiators in Qatar, lambasting Israel for seeking to kill off Gaza truce talks.
“This crime was... an assassination of the entire negotiation process and a deliberate targeting of the role of our mediating brothers in Qatar and Egypt,” Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.
Barhoum accused Washington of being “a full accomplice” in the Israeli attack.
The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel´s decision to take military action.
He said he was not notified in advance and when he heard, he asked his envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar immediately -- but the attack had already started.
Meanwhile, in a blatant statement while speaking at a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there would be no Palestinian state.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.
“We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security... We are going to double the city´s population.”
Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometre tract of land known as E1, but the plan had been stalled for years in the face of international opposition.
The site sits between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near routes connecting the north and south of the Palestinian territory.
Last month, Israel´s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive parcel of land. His announcement drew condemnation, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the settlement would effectively cleave the West Bank in two and pose an “existential threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state.
All of Israel´s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
Several Western governments, including Britain and France, have announced they intend to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.
Britain has said it will take the step if Israel fails to agree to a ceasefire in the devastating Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas´s October 2023 attack.
Far-right Israeli ministers have in recent months openly called for Israel´s annexation of the territory.
Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, said last week that infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months, and housing construction within about a year.
It said the E1 plan was “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution”. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.
