UN official condemns Israel’s airstrike on Hamas leaders in Qatar

On September 16, the United Nations’ top human rights official warned that Israel’s airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week posed a serious threat to regional peace and stability, calling for “accountability for unlawful killings.”

“Israel’s strike on negotiators in Doha on September 9 was a shocking breach of international law,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council, per Arab News.

The strike, which hit the Qatari capital, killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer, drawing widespread international condemnation—including from Gulf monarchies allied with the United States, Israel’s main backer.

Opening an urgent debate on the attack at the council, Turk described it as “an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world.”

“As such, I condemn it and call on this Council and all governments to do the same,” he said.

On September 15, the council announced that it would hold its 10th urgent debate since its creation in 2006, following two formal requests from member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

By Khagan Isayev