DUBAI, December 5. /TASS/. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani, has called on the UN Security Council to force Israel to return to the negotiating table to settle the situation in the Gaza Strip.

"We call on the Security Council to fulfill its duties, to stop the barbaric war and to force Israel to return to negotiations," the Emir said at the opening of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Doha.

He also called the fact that the international community refuses to stop acts of aggression by Israel, which continues the "systematic and deliberate murder of innocent civilians, including women and children," a disgrace.

The two-day 44th Gulf Cooperation Council kicked off in the Qatari capital on Tuesday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also invited to the event.