Geneva, February 27 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has called for an end to the protection and support provided to Israel, urging the international community to take all necessary measures to ensure accountability for crimes and human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

The statement was delivered by HE Dr Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah, Qatar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, during an interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner's remarks on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. The session was held as part of the 61st regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

HE Al Muftah said the world was witnessing daily scenes of grave crimes and violations committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied territories and the Gaza Strip.

She cited killings, starvation, mass forced displacement, the suffering of women and children, and the targeting of civilian facilities, schools, hospitals and journalists, as well as the destruction and confiscation of property, arbitrary arrests and torture. She also referred to policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, saying the situation had reached an unprecedented level of severity and had rendered Gaza uninhabitable, in violation of international law.

The State of Qatar urged the international community to move beyond "double standards" and assume its legal and moral responsibilities to protect the Palestinian people, end the Israeli occupation and advance the peace process. It reiterated support for the Palestinians' right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 borders. (QNA)