Jordan condemns Israel's 'barbaric' air strikes in Gaza, demands halt

Amman: Jordan, one of just two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, on Wednesday demanded an immediate halt to deadly Israeli air raids in Gaza. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said that the raids that killed more than 20 Palestinians in purported response to rocket fire that has killed no one in Israel were “barbaric”. Jordan “condemns the military aggression that Israel has launched in the Gaza Strip” and calls for “its immediate halt”, said Momani. He said the “barbaric aggression” had “negative repercussions on the Gaza Strip and the whole region”. [caption id=“attachment_1347927” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image: AP[/caption] “Jordan demands Israel stop all forms of escalation. The international community should actively intervene to stop the Israeli aggression,” Momani said. “The Israeli actions violate international laws and obstruct peace efforts in the region,” added the minister, whose country has a 1994 peace treaty with the Jewish state. The Israeli air force bombed 160 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight as it pressed a wide-scale campaign to stop Palestinian rocket fire, according to an army official. The fire escalated early Wednesday, with army radio reporting that at least five rockets or mortar rounds from Gaza were intercepted over the Tel Aviv region by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system. Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said it was responsible. AFP