UN Human Rights Council to hold urgent debate on Israeli airstrike on Qatar

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GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate in Geneva on Tuesday on Israel’s September 9 attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, the Council said on Monday.

The September 9 airstrike, which Hamas says killed five of its members but not its leadership, has prompted U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states to close ranks, adding to strains in ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which normalised relations in 2020.

The debate was requested by Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and by Kuwait on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The request came as leaders of Arab and Islamic states were meeting in Doha on Monday, where they were expected to warn that Israel’s attack on Qatar and other “hostile acts” threaten coexistence and efforts to normalise ties in the region, according to a draft resolution of that gathering.

The Israeli mission in Geneva described the decision to hold an urgent debate – the 10th of its kind since the Council’s creation in 2006 – as “absurd”.

“Any product it renders will be a stain on the human rights mechanisms,” the mission said in a statement.

Tuesday’s urgent debate will be the 10th of its kind to be held at the U.N. Human Rights Council since its creation in 2006.

Israel has been widely accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including by the world’s biggest group of genocide scholars, during its nearly two-year campaign in the Palestinian enclave that has killed more than 64,000 people, according to local authorities.

Israel rejects the accusation, citing its right to self-defence following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Gareth Jones)