Lebanon, Jordan Assert Need to Intensify Efforts to Stop War on Gaza

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Crown Prince Hussein in Amman. (Royal Hashemite Court)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Crown Prince Hussein in Amman. (Royal Hashemite Court)
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Lebanon, Jordan Assert Need to Intensify Efforts to Stop War on Gaza

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Crown Prince Hussein in Amman. (Royal Hashemite Court)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Crown Prince Hussein in Amman. (Royal Hashemite Court)

Jordan and Lebanon asserted on Sunday the need to step up the efforts to stop the war on Gaza, prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the coastal enclave.

King Abdullah II of Jordan received caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the presence of Crown Prince Hussein at the Royal Court in Amman.

According to a statement by the Lebanese government, the two parties stressed the importance of delivering unimpeded humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza and supporting international relief organizations working there.

The meeting also addressed the situation in Lebanon, with the monarch reaffirming Jordan's support for Lebanon's efforts to enhance its stability.

For his part, Mikati praised Jordan's efforts under the leadership of King Abdullah in defending Arab issues and working towards peace and stability.

Mikati stressed "the necessity of continuing efforts to stop the war in Gaza and reach a solution that keeps the Palestinians in their land, so that their cause remains alive and a just and final solution can be reached."

He met with his Jordanian counterpart Bisher al-Khasawneh in the presence of Jordan's Minister of State for Prime Ministerial Affairs Ibrahim al-Jazi and Lebanon's Ambassador to Jordan Youssef Emil Raji.

The talks addressed the need to intensify Arab and international efforts to stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza and prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region.

Both officials reiterated their countries' positions "in calling for ending the Israeli aggression against Gaza, ensuring the sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid to the brothers in Gaza, and rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land."

Mikati lauded King Abdullah II's stances in supporting Arab issues, especially the Palestinian cause.

The premier explained that the efforts and communications he is making with Arab and international parties aim to ensure the cessation of the Israeli attack on Gaza, secure the sustainable arrival of aid, and reject forced displacement.

Khasawneh emphasized that Israel's impunity for its transgressions and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law by committing massacres and targeting civilians must end.

The life of the Palestinian is of no less importance than the life of any other person in the world, he asserted.

He stressed the advanced position of King Abdullah II, since the very first day of the attack against Gaza, in mobilizing international support to stop the assault and the humanitarian catastrophe facing the Palestinians and secure unimpeded access to humanitarian and medical aid.

"Jordan's diplomacy led by the King has always stressed that the cycle of this violence will not end except by ensuring a political horizon that leads to the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state," the Jordanian PM underscored.

Khasawneh explained that a sovereign Palestinian state must be established according to the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and within the framework of the two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for the region's countries and peoples.

Mikati began an Arab tour last week, calling on the international community to pressure Israel to stop the daily attacks and violations against Lebanon.

On Saturday, he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.

Mikati is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia next to participate in the emergency Arab League and Arab-African summits.



Israeli Bombardment Kills 29 People in Gaza, Rockets Fired into Israel

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Bombardment Kills 29 People in Gaza, Rockets Fired into Israel

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 29 Palestinians on Friday, medics said, and sirens blared in southern Israel in response to renewed rocket fire from fighters in the Palestinian enclave.

The new rocket salvoes indicated that Hamas-led armed factions in Gaza are still able to fire projectiles into Israel despite a year-long Israeli aerial and ground offensive that has turned wide areas of the enclave into wasteland.

On Friday, the Israeli military said sirens sounded in southern Israel for the first time in around two months.

"Almost a year after Oct. 7, Hamas is still threatening our civilians with their terrorism and we will continue operating against them," it added, referring to the anniversary of Hamas' cross-border attack that touched off the Gaza war.

In Gaza City in north Gaza, Palestinian health officials said one Israeli aerial strike on a house killed at least seven people. Four people including two women and a baby were killed in the bombing of a home in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The rest were killed in airstrikes on several areas across the densely populated coastal enclave. Residents said Israeli forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun suburb and in Rafah, near the southern border with Egypt, blew up clusters of homes.

Israel's military says Hamas combatants use crowded, built-up residential neighborhoods as cover. Hamas denies this.

Israel media, reporting on the rocket fire, said one rocket was intercepted by air defense and another crashed in an open area. There were no reports of casualties or notable damage.

Palestinians in Gaza will mark the first anniversary of the war next week with little hope of an end to the fighting in the foreseeable future, even as Israel pursues a new ground incursion into Lebanon against Hamas' major Iranian-backed ally Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel almost a year ago in support of Hamas after the Palestinian movement staged the deadliest assault in Israel's history on Oct. 7, 2023.

The attack, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, ignited the war that has devastated Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing over 41,800 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

International diplomacy led by the United States has so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war while Israel says fighting can only end when Hamas is eradicated.