ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for Qatar after Israeli airstrikes hit a civilian neighborhood in Doha to target Hamas leaders, saying his government immediately condemned the attack.

Qatar has played a central role in efforts to mediate peace in Gaza, allowing Hamas’ political bureau to operate from its territory as part of negotiations.

Hamas confirmed after the strike that Israel had sought to kill its negotiators, in an attack that left at least six people dead, including a Qatari security guard.

“Yesterday, in Qatar, Israel once again launched an attack, a barbarity, against a sovereign country,” Sharif said during his cabinet meeting. “I believe that no matter how much it is condemned, it will not going to be enough.”

“I think that the blood that is being shed in Palestine, and the innocent children, young people, sisters, mothers and elders, who are being martyred, I believe not just in contemporary history but in the history of the world, there is no other example of such barbarity, cruelty and oppression,” he continued.

Sharif said Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar immediately issued a statement after the attack, adding he himself spoke to the Emir of Qatar as well to assure him of Pakistan’s solidarity.

“He thanked the people of Pakistan, the government, and everyone for taking a stand in this difficult time,” he said while referring to the Qatari leader.

PAKISTAN REQUESTS SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING

Separately, Dar said Pakistan, Algeria and Somalia had requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in light of Israel’s attack on Qatar.

He said Pakistan had also called on the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and together with the other GCC countries, to convene an urgent debate to discuss Israel’s “brazen attack” on Doha.

The Pakistani deputy prime minister said Islamabad welcomed Qatar’s decision to host an Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha on Sept. 15, adding that it had formally conveyed to the OIC Secretariat Pakistan’s readiness to co-sponsor and co-convene the summit.

Israel’s attack takes place amid its military operations in Gaza. More than 64,600 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel launched its military campaign in October 2023.

Qatari officials denounced the strike as a “criminal attack” and a “flagrant violation” of international law that endangered the security of both Qatari citizens and foreign residents.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the assault was a “wholly independent Israeli operation” for which his government took “full responsibility.”