Qatar strongly rejected on Saturday what it described as “provocative” Israeli statements made by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Majed al-Ansari, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the “Israeli statements fall short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility”.
He added: "Picturing the ongoing aggression in Gaza as a defense of civilization brings back rhetorics used by regimes throughout history to justify their crimes under false pretenses”.
Earlier, Netanyahu’s office called on Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and the Hamas group in Gaza, to "stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it's on the side of civilization or if it's on the side of Hamas".