Jordan's King Abdullah Says ‘Whole Region is on the Brink’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) address a joint press conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) address a joint press conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
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Jordan's King Abdullah Says ‘Whole Region is on the Brink’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) address a joint press conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) address a joint press conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday warned against trying to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank.

The Jordanian king told reporters on Tuesday that “this is a red line ... no refugees to Jordan and also no refugees to Egypt.”

“This is a situation that has to be handled within Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. “And you don’t have to carry this out on the shoulders of others,” he said at a news conference following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Abdullah also said that everything needs to be done to prevent a further escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The whole region is on the brink,” Abdullah said. “This new cycle of violence is leading us towards the abyss.”

At the same press conference, Scholz called for preventing an escalation in the Middle East and warned Hezbollah and Iran against intervening in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

"I expressly warn Hezbollah and Iran not to intervene in the conflict," Scholz said.

Scholz, who is traveling to Israel later on Tuesday, stressed that the country has every right to defend itself and can count on Germany’s support.



Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican's various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"Yesterday, children were bombed," said the pope. "This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope's remarks amounted to a "trivialization" of the term genocide.

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch's office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope's remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.