44th GCC summit in Doha to address Israel's war on Gaza

The 44th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, set to commence on Tuesday in Doha, is expected to primarily deal with the Israeli war on Gaza, which has so far killed over 15,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The Gulf leaders are expected to discuss the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict as set out in the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which also says that East Jerusalem must be the capital of an independent Palestinian state,.

Foreign ministers of the GCC countries arrived in Doha on Sunday to participate in the 158th ministerial meeting of the Council, which is taking place on Monday.

#Turkish President Erdogan arrived to Qatar for a two-day official visit to attend the 9th meeting of the #Qatar-Türkiye High Strategic Committee, as well as the 44th #GCC Summit to be held tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/h8qKtbwrCi

— Sinem Cengiz (@SinemCngz) December 4, 2023

Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s foreign ministers met on Sunday in Doha to discuss bilateral relations.

“Today we held the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Qatari-Saudi Coordination Council in Doha, where we discussed ways to develop bilateral relations within the framework of the Executive Committee,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is also the country’s prime minister, said in a statement.

This year's summit is the first GCC gathering held outside Saudi Arabia in five years with Qatar hosting the intergovernmental council for the seventh time.

Recent mediation efforts by Qatar between Hamas and Israel resulted in a week-long pause in Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, which has been going on since 7 October. However, this truce collapsed on December 1.

Other topics on the agenda of the summit will include the joint Gulf railway project initiated in 2003. The Gulf leaders will also discuss advancing toward economic unity among Gulf countries by 2025.

The agenda also covers tourist visa strategies for the period between 2023 and 2030, along with joint military cooperation.