LONDON: Female passengers who were escorted off a Qatar Airways flight and made to undergo an intimate medical examination have yet to receive individual apologies from the airline.
The women have not been contacted by the airline or the Qatari government since the incident that sparked international outrage took place on October 2, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
The lack of apologies come despite some passengers making a formal complaint to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian federal police (AFP) within 24 hours of arrival in Sydney.
Staff at Doha international airport violated standard procedure by demanding that 18 women, including 13 Australian citizens, disembark a plane and follow security staff to a private area of the airport, Qatari authorities have said.
The women were subject to intimate medical examinations in ambulances to see if they had recently given birth after a newborn baby was found abandoned at the airport.
Women from 10 other flights, which have yet to be publicly identified, were also examined.
The women, who have not been offered compensation for the distressing incident, have been contacted by the AFP and were interviewed by the law enforcement agency.
The AFP said it is committed to pursuing an investigation into their treatment and one of the passengers who was contacted by the agency said the AFP officer she spoke to was “genuinely committed” to supporting the welfare of passengers who were subjected to the disturbing examinations at Doha airport.
The group of passengers said they would be seeking individual written apologies and were considering the possibility of legal action.
They would also like a pledge from Qatari authorities that the safety of transit travelers at Doha airport be put ahead of other concerns in the future.
Australian women subjected to invasive examinations at Doha airport say Qatar has not contacted them
https://arab.news/yvb56
Australian women subjected to invasive examinations at Doha airport say Qatar has not contacted them
- Staff at Doha airport demanded 18 women disembark a plane and follow security staff to a private area
- The women were subject to intimate medical examinations in ambulances to see if they had recently given birth
Israel defense minister vows to stay in Gaza, establish outposts
- His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media.
His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza.
Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: “We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing.”
“We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again),” he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet.
Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005.
“When the time comes, God willing, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted,” Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers.
“We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time.”
Katz’s remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of “acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel’s national security.”
“While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip,” he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump.
The next phases of Trump’s plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
It also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused.
On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.
