NEW YORK: Kuwait reiterated Tuesday that the Zionist occupation is deliberately adopting a collective punishment approach and committing war crimes against humanity in Gaza Strip, which is in continuous and deliberate violation of the United Nations Charter, international law and international humanitarian law. The remarks were made in a speech delivered by Second Secretary Fahad Al-Ajmi of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations before the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly concerned with special political issues and decolonization.

“What we are witnessing today is genocide and the world stands as a spectator,” Ajmi said, noting that this “coward entity does not differentiate between an infant, a child, a woman or an old man”. Ajmi stated that the language of numbers “cannot be obscured by the misleading and shameful media of the occupying entity. From the year 2015 until the year 2022, the General Assembly adopted 140 resolutions condemning the (Zionist) occupation; at the same time, there was not a single resolution condemning Palestine.”

The diplomatic attache added: “We always hear the term peaceful coexistence, and that the two-state solution is the only path and solution, and the brothers in Palestine did not object to that.” He stressed they “went beyond that and did their best to reach peace, but the stubbornness, arrogance and treachery of the other side prevented them from doing so”.

Meanwhile, Qatar is mediating negotiations between the Zionist entity and Hamas for the potential release of 10-15 captives held in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting, a source briefed on the talks told AFP Wednesday. “Negotiations mediated by the Qataris in coordination with the US are ongoing to secure the release of 10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire,” the informed source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the talks’ sensitivity.

Fighting has raged in Gaza for over a month following the Palestinian group’s shock Oct 7 attack that killed more than 1,400 people and took more than 240 captives. In Gaza, 10,569 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Zionist entity’s retaliatory military campaign.

Qatar has been engaged in intense diplomacy to secure the release of those held by Hamas, negotiating the handover of four hostages — two Zionists and two Americans — in recent weeks. The wealthy Gulf state has been a fierce supporter of the Palestinian cause and has open channels of communication with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.

Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, also hosts the political office of Hamas and is the main residence of its self-exiled leader Ismail Haniya. Amid repeated calls for a ceasefire, Qatar has lamented the escalating violence visited on Gaza and its 2.3 million inhabitants saying the Zionist bombing undermines mediation efforts and de-escalation. The G7 grouping of economically advanced nations called on Wednesday for “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the conflict but refrained from calling for a ceasefire during talks in Japan. — Agencies