Jordan's King Abdullah II warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday of the “catastrophic” consequences of continued war in the Middle East, as the White House scrambles to prevent the conflict from escalating.
“In his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, His Majesty King Abdullah warned of the devastating effects of the continued war in the Gaza Strip and emphasized the need to end the tragic humanitarian crisis in the Strip. “he emphasized,” the Royal Court said. said after the meeting.
King Abdullah II pressed Blinken to facilitate a ceasefire in the heated three-month war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken embarked on a week-long visit to the Middle East in a diplomatic effort to ease rising tensions in the region.
King Abdullah II asserted that there would be no “regional stability without a just solution to the Palestinian issue and a just and comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution.”
He also explicitly rejected any efforts to evict Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, something Israeli President Isaac Herzog had already harshly denied in an interview on Sunday.
“Absolutely, never,” Herzog said Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press” about the evacuation of Palestinians. “I completely disagree and it is not the position of the Israeli government, the Israeli parliament or the Israeli people.
“I say it frankly, publicly and clearly: this is not Israel's position.”
After the meeting between Mr. Blinken and King Abdullah II, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller addressed concerns about displacement.
“The Secretary expressed his gratitude to King Abdullah II for Jordan's role and leadership in providing life-saving assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip,” Miller said in a statement.
“The Secretary also emphasized the United States' opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence.”
Last year, Blinken publicly lamented that “too many Palestinians have been killed” in the bloody war.
Jordan, which borders Israel, has long expressed fears of war. The monarch also attacked Israel's policies toward Palestinians.
After his visit to Jordan, Mr. Blinken was scheduled to meet with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Qatar on Sunday.
Blinken's trip to the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean comes amid growing concern in the Biden administration that a second front could emerge over escalating tensions between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
Days after Hamas's deadly Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, President Biden persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah. The Wall Street Journal reported.
Still, the threat of escalating conflict remains.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic organization that is both a political party and an armed group in Lebanon. Listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and many countries.
Israeli and Hezbollah forces have been trading blows in recent days, including on Saturday, when the group took credit for firing rockets into Israel.
Dozens of rockets are believed to have been fired into Israel. This is an apparent retaliation for accusing Israel of killing Hamas leader Saleh Allouri in Beirut a few days earlier.
Israel estimates that Hezbollah has a stockpile of about 150,000 precision-guided missiles, making it a more formidable military force than Hamas. According to the Associated Press.
Hezbollah and Israel have a history of war.
Well over 1,200 Israelis have been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. More than 240 people were taken hostage by Hamas. Approximately half of them have since been released.
The Hamas-linked Gaza Health Ministry claims at least 22,835 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting.
