Jordan urges global community to condemn any attempt to expel Palestinians

Jordan’s King Abdullah declared on Tuesday that the international community ought to denounce any effort by Israel to set up circumstances that would result in the forcible eviction of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by conflict, or from outside its borders. The king once more demanded an urgent ceasefire and issued a warning that Israel’s unrelenting bombing campaign was causing a “dangerous deterioration” in the situation, according to statements made by official media following a meeting with the president of Cyprus in Amman. During their conversation, President Nikos Christodoulides of Cyprus stressed the importance of stepping up efforts to provide relief and humanitarian aid to the beleaguered citizens residing in Gaza. Abdullah has pushed Western authorities to put Israel under intense pressure to provide an unbroken flow of help and open the borders under its control in order to bring in an adequate amount of aid. U.N. officials and humanitarian workers report that Israel currently regulates the amount and type of aid reaching the roughly 2.3 million people under siege. Only a small portion of the help required by the enclave is reportedly entering through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which according to UNRWA officials and NGOs can only handle a small portion of the demands. According to Israel’s count, Hamas fighters launched a rampage through Israeli villages on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 prisoners. For this reason, Israel launched its campaign in retaliation. According to data from the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli shelling has killed up to 16,000 Palestinians and forced 80% of the people from their homes. According to sources, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned Christodoulides that any attempt to forcibly remove Palestinians from their land in large numbers would have severe repercussions while it retained security control. Authorities also worry about increased violence in the West Bank, which borders Jordan, due to an increase in Israeli military operations, land confiscations, and settler attacks against Palestinian people. Conditions might be created that would motivate Israel to drive tens of thousands of Palestinians across the Jordan River with force. According to officials, forcing Palestinians out would be tantamount to declaring war and would cause Jordan to renounce its peace deal with Israel. Jordan has denounced Israel’s attempt to construct new settlements in Arab East Jerusalem, the portion of the city under dispute that was taken during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War together with the West Bank and is recognised by the UN as occupied territory. (With agency inputs)