Tehran, Aug 16 (EFE).- Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani highlighted the need to end the ‘Israeli genocide’ in the Gaza Strip in a phone call with his Qatari counterpart, he said Friday.
“I emphasized the need to continue all-out efforts and practical measures, including diplomatic activities, to stop the Zionist genocide in Gaza,” Bagheri Kani wrote on X, referring to the conversation with Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani late Thursday.
The parties discussed the resumption of negotiations in Doha to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, under the mediation of host Qatar, Egypt and the United States and with the participation of an Israeli delegation.
However, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has its political office in the Qatari capital, said it was not participating in the talks, although it was open to meeting with the mediators, especially Qatar and Egypt, if there is progress.
The negotiations, which according to the head of Qatari diplomacy, are in a “delicate” phase, continued Friday, while the Israeli army maintains its offensive in the Gaza Strip, where the death toll has now exceeded 40,000.
The war in Gaza broke out after the attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas and other Palestinian militias against Israeli territory, which killed 1,200 people, with another 250 kidnapped.
Iran, which is a staunch enemy of Israel, leads the so-called Axis of Resistance, an informal anti-Israeli alliance, made up, of Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen, among others.
Iran has vowed to avenge the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during an official visit to Tehran on July 31, which Iranian authorities have blamed on Israel. EFE
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